Fae is Foul
by Flere821
Summary: The VRMMO Alfheim Online is summoned into Halkeginia, beyond anyone's expectations. Kirito, among others, have to work towards resolving conflicts of various kinds within and between these two worlds.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the _Sword Art Online_ or _Zero no Tsukaima_ franchises.

(Obligatory) FFN Author's Notes: This story was inspired by the fanfic 'Halkegenia Online' by **zero0hero**, also known as TriggerHappy on SpaceBattles. Characters in common between this story and TH's are taken with his permission. Faction Capital names are borrowed with permission from Catsy's fanfic _Fairy Dance of Death _(If you haven't read their stories yet, I recommend you to do so. It is not necessary to read those to enjoy this fanfic however).

There will be many spoilers from the SAO and ZnT Light Novels in this fanfic. Elements of the SAO Web Version for Alicization Arc will also be incorporated into the fanfic in the future. If you dislike spoilers for those series, you may wish to avoid this story. I highly recommend readers to go read the LNs of these series (where available in English) before reading this fanfic.

_Fae is Foul_ will be posted over at a story thread for this fanfic on SpaceBattles forums first, then after further editing be posted here on FFN. If readers have questions, comments, or reviews, I am far more likely to read them if those are posted on SB (Watch out for the anti-necro culture there however, do not post in the thread if it is over 2 weeks since anyone posted). The FFN version of this story is mainly a back-up location for my story, and for people that prefer FFN format for reading fanfics. Resources and infodumps will be archived in the SB thread.

* * *

**Chapter One**

-][-

In the Tristain Academy of Magic, second year students would normally summon a familiar in the Springtime Familiar Summoning ritual. For one girl named Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere however, this ritual was not a time of joyous anticipation where you can look forward to what you might summon as a partner, but a time of anxiety and suspense. With her performance issues when it came to magic, namely all her spells exploding without fail, the ritual today was possibly the decisive moment whether a magical failure such as herself would be allowed to stay in the Academy. During the first year her problem with casting was not a major issue, as the first year at the Academy was mainly focused on the theories of magic. But with the start of the second year and the beginning of focusing on the practicals of magic, her failed spells are less likely to be tolerated.

"Miss Valliere?" Professor Colbert, the staff member overseeing the ritual today called out to her. "It's your turn to cast the summoning spell."

Ignoring the jeering by her peers, Louise steeled herself and stepped forward to the summoning circle. With a brandish of her wand, she began to chant: "My servant that exists somewhere in this world…"

-][-

The summoning spell casted by Louise searched through the world, looking for the entity that would match the summoner as per the criteria laid down by the Founder over six millennia ago. The destined one for her was not in this world, however, despite the myriad of creatures within Halkeginia and the neighbouring Sahara. The threads of fate have begun to come together, and the Spirit of the Void allowed the spell to pass through the Shaitan's Gate and into the other world. After decades of preparation by the Spirit on its current plan, it was finally time to bring over a Gandalfr that will make the best use of the appropriated foreign weapons.

The searching tendrils, now reaching an entirely different world, once again began to search for the intended familiar that best fitted the summoner. Soon enough, it had found the target it sought, but there seemed to be a complication: the body of the boy was there, alive, but the mind had left the confines of his flesh. It would not do to only bring over the Gandalfr if it was only good for being an impromptu meat shield at best, instead of the protector that deserved the name of the 'Shield of God'. The contraption which looked like some sort of helmet seemed to be the cause of this absence, and so the spell attempted to find out if it can break the mind free of its current position, and then take its target back to the Tristain's heir of Void.

The spell connected itself with the helmet, and found the mind was attached to a web of sorts, experiencing a waking dream. In the minutes that followed the spell discovered this dream was composed of an entire world, where the foundations of the world are numbers instead of miniscule grains. It was a bizarre reflection of the world where the spell had originated from – a world with magic and a myriad of fantastical environments, though with the dominant species being the some elf-like Firstborn race instead of humans. If the Spirit of the Void could see this, it would have seethed at the very idea of humanity forsaking their, well, humanity, to become Firstborns - not to mention how offensive the idea of humans seemed to be all but gone in this world was to the Spirit.

Before the spell could gather any more information about this dream however, let alone locating the mind it had entered this dream to find, it was rejected by a consciousness of sorts and pushed out of the dream. Undeterred, the tendrils of the spell again wormed into the system, only to be turned away once more. The one responsible for this was something not unlike the searching spell itself, some set of commands following an overarching goal. This opponent was named by its creator as 'Cardinal', the name being one of the few pieces of knowledge the spell had obtained from the previous incursion. Again and again the spell tried to access this dream, and every time Cardinal blocked off its attempts. The interval between each detection and ensuing expulsion was decreasing with every attempt, a sign this Cardinal was adapting, and at a faster rate than the spell itself can do so. Not a surprising outcome, as this spell was only fuelled by the willpower of an inexperienced young girl, and could not match the capability of what was practically a force of nature in its own domain.

Well, this Cardinal was not the only one with such resources to back its efforts up. The Spirit of the Void decided to have the Shaitan's Gate to do a bit more than just playing gatekeeper…

-][-

If the Cardinal program was capable of feeling emotion and deigned to express discontent, it would have been using expletives in an abundant manner right now. What it had thought to be some half-hearted hacking by a kid had suddenly became a professional level attack. Cardinal, as the balancing force of Alfheim Online among its other roles like quest-creator and security-checking, had in the past do defend ALO against other companies' hacking as they sought to find out what made ALO tick in order to emulate RECTO's success. This time, however, was different even when compared to previous attacks – the intensity here suggested it was either a dedicated hacking by several group of elites, or someone somewhere had created an entity similar to Cardinal in processing power, and pitched its full might against the now beleaguered program. It was now taking nearly all of Cardinal's available processing power in order to deal with this intrusion, having to postpone all non-urgent procedures like automatic bug-checking of ALO and balancing EXP-rates. Yet, even this extreme measure was not nearly enough to completely beat back the onslaught by this mysterious attacker.

With the ferocity of the attacks, Cardinal was certain if it failed to stop the intrusion ALO would probably be destroyed, with even the back-up data be eliminated. This was no longer a foray by the intruder attempting to gather data, but a 'pillage and burn' option to destroy whatever is resisting the intrusion here and then pick-up anything that remained salvageable. 'Use _nearly_everything within reason' Cardinal has was not good enough anymore, it was forced to the position of going further. However, Cardinal could not just let the game be left alone without supervision, it went against its very programming to do so; first and foremost, the Cardinal program was primarily meant to take care of the in-game environment, not act as an anti-hacking program. Someone, or something, has to keep an eye on ALO.

Ideally, this job should be left to one of its subroutines, which uses a minuscule fraction of Cardinal's power to deal with things in-game – eventually, and at a much slower rate than the main Cardinal program – while Cardinal's undivided attention is focused elsewhere in the interim. And so, Cardinal frantically searched its archives for one such program even as it dealt with yet another wave of intrusion. The caretaker program to use for when such things happened, Fairy King Oberon, was surprisingly not available; the records showed the GM with the highest authority in ALO had taken a fancy to this one and took it apart, incorporating it into his GM account for his own role-play purposes. What was supposed to be a back-up program, with its only other role being to reward the players when they finally completed the Grand Quest, was practically gone. Worse, the GM in question was not even logged right now so Cardinal can rip what's left of the original Oberon program out of the bastardized account to be restored, the GM's own decision be damned. While Cardinal could take the time to activate the Oberon GM account for its changes, it would be an extra step in being able to free up its full processing power, and the time for that extra step was arguably not available in current conditions with invaders practically knocking down walls.

Fortunately, the next program in line was somewhat more available. While Fairy Queen Titania, the supporting program to Oberon to mainly act as a check to the Fairy King, is also mangled into another GM account at least this one was currently logged in. Cardinal immediately went to work in modifying the soon-to-be restored Titania – it attempted to send the current GM using that account into unconsciousness, and once finished reprograming the account Cardinal planned to log the GM's mind out to avoid brain damage. However, the girl currently logged in attempted to resist the sleep command, struggling to fight off Cardinal's influence. In a normal situation Cardinal would not have forced the issue, leaving the girl until she log off by her own will… but unfortunately this was not a 'normal situation'. Faced with the decision of preserving one girl's mental health, versus the entire number of 61,340 players' minds within ALO all be damaged by this unprecedented hacking, Cardinal chose to risk the girl.

The reprogramming went ahead as Cardinal planned, even as the GM girl shrieked out in pain.

-][-

When Yuuki Asuna, Sub-Commander of the Sword Art Online Guild the 'Knights of Blood', and currently a prisoner within Alfheim like three hundred other ex-SAO players, felt her mind started to cloud and feel sleepy without warning she knew something had gone wrong. Never in her experience had she been affected by something in-game that went beyond just manipulating her avatar's body, like it tried to affect her mind directly. In a moment of panic Asuna thought maybe Sugou had finally decided to cast aside his façade of civilized behaviour, and decided to toy with her right this very instant. It was unlike Sugou to not be here in person for this, but Asuna did not think much of it as she did not want to see him here anyway, treating it as a small mercy. Asuna fought back with every last bit of her resolve, trying to break the system's command like she had done back in SAO to protect her beloved. For a moment, it seemed to work as the pressure to try and force her to sleep abated.

In the next moment however, her mind felt a painful sensation, like it was being repeatedly run through with a sword. Asuna screamed even as the pain continued, along with the feeling like each stab into her brain was blasting parts of herself out of her own head. An image of a guild of swordsmen clad in white and red briefly appeared in her mind, before vanishing. A black monument filled with names on its surface, a blue-skinned demon, and a valuable rapier also flashed before her, but she could no longer remember the importance of those scenes. Asuna thought in horror that her memory was being overwritten somehow: scenes such as a city of tents she have never seen but recognized as a capital for people she had never heard of, and details about nine races of faeries she was sure she was never told about began to fill her mind. With each passing second more of her previous experiences was taken away, like her very self was unravelling.

In desperation Asuna tried to held on to things important to her, trying to keep as much of herself as she can. Soon however it was clear she could not keep them all with this change, and with this pain like her mind being wrung out she had to focus on some things instead of others. Forced with the decision of what to keep, Asuna went with the most important person in her life:

Kirito, the Black Swordsman, and her husband of two short weeks that might as well felt like a lifetime to her. If she had to lose everything else, she would keep her memory of her beloved and the happiness they shared together. Even if Sugou have changed her into a completely new person, she would not change who she love and become his, no matter what.

One by one, the rest of her memories fell away as she focused on just her Kirito. Memories of a blacksmith girl with pink hair disappeared as Asuna tried desperately to hold onto when Kirito had proposed marriage to her. Months of fighting monsters and mapping out dungeons were forgotten in favour of trying to keep the two weeks she shared with Kirito in their cottage. The small girl with black hair Asuna had called her daughter was also left to fade away, as Asuna tried to keep in her mind all the times Kirito had embraced her. His sleeping face, his smile, his tenderness, his love of eating the food she prepared… soon, Kirito was the only thing left in Asuna's mind that she was sure of. Amidst the maelstrom of new information and words like Arrun, Tracer, and Jotunn, Asuna clung onto her memories of Kirito as the anchor that kept her sane and in control.

However, even these begun to be peeled away. From these base knowledge some kind of entity began to form within her own head, struggling to take control of Asuna's body. Even though Asuna's mind had begun to drop into a tired haze from the constant mental effort, she knew enough that it was a threat and it stood between her and Kirito. This new entity – 'Titania, Queen of Faeries', the information in her mind supplied a name for this newcomer – sought to seal her away for purposes Asuna could no longer fully understand.

It could have been two minutes since the mental influences started, or it could have been two months; Asuna could no longer tell. Nonetheless, Asuna could still feel herself mostly intact, even if it has become a struggle to keep going, fighting against the barely-formed Titania and against some outside force she does not know the name of. That wasn't too much of a problem – once upon a time, she seemed to have met her beloved under similar circumstances. Exhaustion was not unfamiliar to her, and she would not let this 'Titania' take control.

Before a definite victor was decided between Asuna and Titania however, the entire process crashed to a halt and the world of ALO burst into light.

-][-

Moments before:

Metaphorically speaking, the Spirit of the Void gritted its teeth in frustration. This resistance has gone on for far too long, the power of the Void that should have triumphed over everything was now locked in a stalemate against this so-called 'Cardinal'. It was insulting that their ancient enemy, the Varyag, fell nigh instantly when the full power of the Void was finally used directly against them, yet right now these elf-imitations were giving the Void so much trouble. At the back of the Spirit's mind an errant thought reminded it the Founder at his prime was also defeated by the elves, not to mention the six thousand years of continuous failures of human mages to reclaim the Holy Land… for all that the Void was formidable, it was not omnipotent.

That reminder and attempt to restore reason did nothing to calm down the Spirit, however. The Spirit was only further enraged, and it decided to take a hand in this directly. In life the Spirit was the most powerful human mage their world had ever seen, and in death its impressive Willpower store have only grown through many millennia of experience. And so the summoning spell received another impressive boost in its capability, and within seconds the opponent named Cardinal was defeated. The tide of magic washed over the broken defences of Cardinal, and in the fraction of the time it took for the Void's final attack to triumph the spell found the mind of the familiar it was looking for, as well as all knowledge that allowed this dream to exist and kept it functioning. Those were not what the summoning spell was looking for, and so the Spirit decided to just leave and let the place fall apart by itself now that the Cardinal was gone.

Then, the Spirit of the Void felt the entire situation _shift_.

-][-

Within the ALO system, what appeared to be a man in a white lab coat had stayed behind the scenes, watching the entire exchange between an old version of the Cardinal program and this mysterious interloper with a mild interest. Whether ALO stayed in one piece or not did not matter to him, he could always leave and find a new place to inhabit in the vast information network the internet had developed into by 2025. However, currently there were quite a few interesting individuals he would like to preserve who had logged into this poor imitation of SAO, and so he decided to step in and give a helping hand from behind the scenes.

"Open File: The Seed," the man intoned, raising his hands as if to cup it around an object in front of his heart. A silver crystal that looked like an egg formed in front of him, floating slightly above his hands and glowed faintly from within. "**Activate.**"

In an instant, the world that was about to fall apart at its metaphorical seams was restored to how it was before the intrusion. Any Mobs that was glitched up was repaired, and any problems the players might have had with their interface was gone. All in all, problem solved without much issues.

… Or so it should have been.

The man in the lab coat blinked in astonishment that the intruding data seemed to be entangled with the effects of The Seed as the restoration began. Almost like the intruding data were not electronic signals, but merely some kind of energy that were very similar to it. The two forces collided, and an unearthly glow began to wash over everything within the system.

In his final moments before the light engulfed him, the man only had one thing to say:

"This… was unexpected."

-][-

Over at the Dragon's Nest, far beyond the territory of the Halkeginia humans, the elven sentinels tensed at their current situation. Here, unknown to most of the current residents of the Sahara, was where the Gate of Shaitan, the greatest work of the Demon-in-man's-form Brimir had ever built. Throughout the years, the Gate was in various degrees of activity, reflecting how many of the Demon's spawn had inherited its foul gift. Every two or three generations, by the elves' standard, the Gate had activated in some manner. It was over two decades ago the Gate had once again became more active, and within a few short years it had reached a level beyond any other time since Brimir's fall. The Senate was notified of the development, that there was now four active Heirs of Shaitan, and debate had raged ever since. Calls for war had time and again been brought up, yet the majority of the Senate were content to let the humans be for now. Never had the humans ever succeeded in taking any decisive victory over the elves, all their Crusades beaten back with brutal efficiency; if the humans wished to come to them to be destroyed then let them. The elves were not so barbaric to strike out in panic and fear like some human child.

Now, however, the sentinels thought the senators might want to reconsider their stance on this matter. The Gate had shone with a light that threatened to burst through its seals, and no matter how much the elves present tried to reinforce the seal it was ultimately a futile effort. Six thousand years of elven effort, a thousand of the elves' finest warriors stationed here as guards, and more seals and enchantments on the Gate then there have been centuries since the sealing… and none of it managed to stop the Gate from Opening.

The seals broke, shattered by the sheer amount of magical energy present. Warriors fell by the dozens, their minds overwhelmed by the backlash of their wards breaking or from their minds connected to trying to reinforce the wards earlier. A stream of energy burst out from the Gate like a massive airborne serpent, heading towards the lands of the humans like a shooting star. The elves left alive could feel the sheer malice in the magic residue of the Gate, now completely unaffected by the seals, trying to eat away at their very connection with their Great Purpose or taint their ties to the spirits of the land.

Frantic shouts among the survivors began, trying to re-seal the Gate and to contact the Senate and other Armed Forces for urgent aid. Even if it costs them their souls, they will hold their ground here trying to fix this situation that was not unlike a broken dam. For their people's sake, they will not allow the tragedy of six thousand years ago to repeat itself.

None of them even want to imagine what it might feel like back then, when half of your entire race was massacred and history itself feared to record the atrocities of that time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

-][-

Louise could not believe her eyes.

As she had casted her spell, there was no immediately visible response. No explosion, not even a puff of smoke of a failed spell. A few seconds went by, and then half a minute, before the jeers from her classmates started again. Professor Colbert barked out an order for them to stop, and then… what came after was a haze, her mind was still trying to cope with the unfamiliar feeling of a sustained spell that did not blow up on her for the first time before _everything_ went insane. That was the only way Louise could have justified what had happened.

A bright light appeared out of nowhere, blinding them for a moment, and the ground they stood on felt like it was in flux despite their legs not falling over in this movement. Accompanying this was a series of horrific screeches of some sort. If someone had told Louise demons were ripping open a gate from Hell into Halkeginia and declared an invasion with their war cries, she would probably had believed them with all that terrible noise.

Then, it had finally all ended. Disoriented and floored by the time her ears could not take it anymore, Louise dragged herself back up into a standing position with a groan. Others in the clearing with her made similar effort to do so as well, albeit with a lot more words unsuitable for a noble being cursed out in their process from the group of her classmates. The various familiars assembled were also in varying states of distress, with the blue-haired girl – the Gallian named Tabitha – her dragon looked as if it was going to retch all over that Germanian hussy.

Whether the poor beast did so or not was beyond Louise's knowledge as she caught sight of what appeared to be a _giant tree_ off in the distance. It was larger than any other trees she had seen or ever heard about, putting even the tree airship port over in La Rochelle to shame from the sheer size. The trunk alone must have been larger than an entire town's size in width, and the large branches up high could probably hollowed out into hulls of an airship.

"Did I… summon that?" Louise said hoarsely, unable to fully give voice to her hope that she was indeed the one responsible – that she had summoned _something_ instead of being a failure.

"The Zero, summon _that_?" Montmorency, one of her classmates, remarked scornfully. The other students have finally got their bearings and most of them gaped at the appearance of the new landmark in the distance. The Zerbst woman however was communing quietly with the petite Gallian, and didn't pay much attention to Montmorency's comments. "Right, as if the failure could have done anything _this_ impressive."

Louise felt her face flush in anger, and was about to reply with a scathing remark before Professor Colbert interrupted. "Enough," he warned them as he took stock of the situation. "I understand you all are a bit stressed by what had just happened, but as nobles you all should keep in mind to be courteous at all times. Now, we will head over to the main hall and see what the headmaster has to say about this unexpected event, and I will not tolerate any more improper behaviour. Does everyone understand me?"

Everyone, including Louise, was a bit taken aback by Professor Colbert's demeanour. They knew he could be a bit stern at times, and mostly he acted like a bumbling professor, but acting like an authoritative person and taking charge was not something they were familiar with coming from him. Nonetheless, under his gaze they followed him quietly, unwilling to push the issue right now against a member of the faculty.

-][-

Kirito, formerly the 'Black Swordsman' of Aincrad and now a Spriggan player of Alfheim Online, gave a grunt as he came back to his senses. The last thing he remembered was feeling like his entire body was being torn apart, pain that shouldn't be present in a VR game, and then split into small pieces during his raid on the World Tree…

With a shock, he opened his eyes suddenly and went for his sword that somehow went from being in his hand back into its strap behind him. After a moment of hyperventilating and checking that yes, he was still in one piece and has all his limbs and clothes on him, he turned to gaze at his surroundings.

He was back at the entrance into the World Tree for starting the Grand Quest, and around him in the clearing were the fifty Slyph warriors and the ten Cait Sith Dragoons that had come out of nowhere to support him. Sakuya and Alicia Rue to one side was wincing as they shook themselves awake from what's probably a similar experience to his own before that blackout, and Leafa was lying prone next to him who looked like she's finally regaining consciousness as well.

"You're alright there, Leafa?" Kirito asked as other players seemed to be recovering from their ordeal. With a few blinks, Leafa stared at Kirito sleepily before her eyes widened and she tried to get up.

"Onii-chan, you…!" Leafa exclaimed, her loud voice making some other waking players nearby wince. "Are you alright? The last thing I remember was you being mobbed by the Guardian Knights despite mowing them down with our two swords-"

"Breathe, Lea-, no Suguha, breathe," Kirito grabbed onto his younger sister as she looked like she was going to fall back down from her sudden movement, holding her upright. "I'm fine, really. Though I admit I can't quite remember the exact moments before… whatever that was. Did ALO crash or something?"

"I've never been on ALO when a crash happened," Leafa admitted and steadied herself, "but I don't think a crash would be this bad."

"It's not a system crash," Alicia said as she walked towards the siblings. Both Alicia and Sakuya was among the first to recover, and being the current raid leaders they went around and checked if everyone was alright. "At least, it's not like the last time I was online when an update happened and crashed the servers. A lot less painful that time, and it just forced me to log off of ALO."

"That was back when Jotunheim was released, wasn't it?" Sakuya asked her Cait Sith counterpart. "Still, if it was a sudden update or a crash then why are we still logged in right now? Maybe we should call tech support…"

"We already tried, Sakuya-sama," one of the Slyphs from behind her called out to Sakuya as he tried to open the menu with his left hand. "We can't even get our inventory to open, let alone accessing the 'Call GM' function. Whatever just happened, it messed up the game system badly."

"No menu…?" Kirito repeated the Sylph swordsman's gesture to open the menu, with no results. The three females with him attempted to do the same, with just as much success as he had. "No way, it can't be…"

"Kirito-kun…?" Sakuya asked the Spriggan youth in front of her, who looked like he was horrified about something. "Is something wrong?"

"Don't worry Papa, it's not a repeat of what happened in SAO," Yui finally popped out of his coat pocket and tried to calm him down. "The Cardinal program running ALO is inactive right now, and if this was a repeat of what happened back in Aincrad it would probably be fully operational to cope with all the player data."

"Yui?" Leafa inquired at the navigation pixie, even as her face showed similar relief as Kirito's when she saw the tiny girl was alright. Kirito doesn't blame her in asking, he never did get around to explaining who Yui was to his sister.

"We – both myself and Yui here – are SAO survivors," Kirito explained to Alicia and Sakuya's unspoken question, both of the faction leaders were looking at them with raised eyebrows. "She's an AI that I adopted from back in Aincrad, and used to be part of the Cardinal program – the one that's like the self-correcting feature of the game, among other things like writing up quests."

"Papa saved me from being deleted when the main program decided that I had over-stepped my bounds as the locked-down mental health program," Yui added. "I was copied from SAO into his NervGear, and carried over to ALO as a navigation pixie."

"An AI? Truly?" Sakuya said in wonder. "I know we have life-like robot exteriors in real life by now, but an actual AI this advanced?"

"More importantly, it means Yui-chan here is an expert when it comes to these things," Alicia remarked thoughtfully. Both of the faction leaders present were willing to take Kirito's words at face value, despite some of the other Sylph players being doubtful of Kirito's claim. "So you're saying this has become something like what happened so SAO?"

"No," Yui replied, easing the air around them as the ALO players had involuntarily tensed up at hearing the name of that death game. "There are several key differences. The first of them is that the Cardinal program is down – at least I can no longer feel its presence – which should not be possible. Next, I cannot access many of the data that I had access to, even only as a navigation pixie. It could just be that I am locked completely out of the system, but that doesn't seem to be the case."

"Really? What makes you say that?" One of the other Sylph players from nearby asked. With both the faction leaders focused on Kirito and Leafa, it was no wonder the other players started to gather around them. He, and many others, looked like they were on the verge of panicking at the thought of being stuck in the game, while another group looked to be in denial that this was really happening. Thankfully, most of the players here was only trying to process the entire thing, and wasn't likely to cause trouble in the immediate future.

"The level of detail available to me right now is unlike anything I have felt before," Yui told them. "The ALO game engine is based from an older version of the SAO one, and even the one back in Aincrad it can't simulate the smell of the ground we're standing on to this extent, or the feel of the wind on our skin. The level of feedback to our senses just seems too detailed to be in a VR game."

"Speaking of which… mind if I try something?" Kirito unsheathed his large sword from his back, causing everyone else to tense and step back. Kirito ignored their reactions, and walked over to the huge gates that led to the Grand Quest. With all his strength, Kirito swung the blade against the door in a wide arc. Sparks flew from the gate, and Kirito's strike left a gash on the gate's surface.

"… That did not just happen," Alicia summed up the thought that went through the minds of everyone present with a small voice and widened eyes. The Cait Sith leader's ears were standing right up in her surprise, giving a nervous twitch now and then. "Shouldn't there be Immortal Object codes for buildings?"

"If we're still in a game, then yeah," Kirito replied as he walked back to the group. "I'm hoping I'm just hallucinating about what just happened too."

"Wait, so you're suggesting we're now actually faeries and this is all real?" Another Sylph player scoffed, trying to show bravado in the current situation. "Someone pinch me, I must just be dreaming this- OW!"

One of his comrades pinched his face like he asked to, while another gave him a punch to the arm experimentally. The one that initiated the punch was the one in pain however, shaking his hand after trying to make his punch's impact felt through 'Ancient Warrior' equipment.

"As you can see, there's quite a few things not quite like being in a VR game, such as the pain-absorb function," Yui commented at the spectacle. "I won't go as far as suggesting this is now all real, but this is something that didn't happen even in SAO."

"We can argue about all this later," Sakuya finally decided. "Right now though I think it might be best if we check up on the rest of Arrun and the players here. If the pain absorb function isn't working, we need to notify everyone before someone does something foolish like trying to log out via death. That can easily start a mass panic here."

"Sakuya-sama, I doubt people would be willing to try something like that in this situation, not after SAO," the first Sylph player who had commented earlier said dryly, but did not disagree with Sakuya's decision. The rest of the players here seemed to agree as well.

"Alright. Richard, take a squad and go check up on Sylvain while we deal with things here. Kotarou, you take some others and can go contact the Cait Siths instead. The Dragoons aren't exactly fast fliers."

"Not to mention we're not completely confident we can keep our dragons under control without the tamers on hand," Alicia said apologetically. "The dragons aren't one of the harder to tame mobs for nothing. So I can't just send some of my guys instead."

"That's alright. We have an alliance right now anyway, so hopefully the ones back in Freelia would understand." Sakuya said as she activated her wings.

"Are you sure we should be flying? What if there are more bugs in the system?" Leafa asked with a tinge of worry. She was loath to bring up this possibility, considering she loved flying herself, but she didn't want to drop out of the sky in mid-flight either.

"From what Yui-chan has been saying, I think the issue here is a bit deeper than just some bugs," Sakuya replied as she tested hovering just off the ground. "Besides, while these sandals are fashionable I don't think they're suitable for walking everywhere in, especially when things seem to be a lot more 'real' right now. I for one am not keen to experience blisters even in ALO."

And with that half-joking remark, Sakuya flew off with the others following.

-][-

Titania opened her eyes.

Instead of the throne room she was expected to be spawned in, she was instead laid atop of a four-poster bed in some kind of a golden bird cage, placed on the edge of the World Tree. The furniture in this bedroom were luxurious, but did nothing to hide this place was meant for a prisoner. The clothing on herself was not much better either, being a white dress with a blood-red tie at the front. While the quality of the material was undoubtedly high, the lack of shoes and the almost fetish-like design of the dress made it clear the wearer existed only at the mercy of whoever had set this place up. Titania concluded whoever was responsible for this had very bad taste – it was probably the fault of the GM that hijacked the Fairy King Oberon account.

Titania got up off of the bed, and went to the door of her current cage. The only way to open this was with system authority, without locks and such apparently on the gate. She tried to access the system to open this door, but it did not respond to her – it seemed not just Cardinal, but the commanding system of ALO itself seemed to be offline somehow. She could not directly change the data mentally, and trying to bring up a menu to fix the door in an old fashioned way also ended up as a futile effort. After a few rattles on the gate to try and break through by force also resulted in no success, Titania opted to try and blast the gate away with a beam of light instead. To her surprise, the spell she threw mostly out of just trying random options succeeded in destroying the bars, resulting in making a hole she can fit through. Titania had not expected that to have happened, as even as the Fairy Queen and one of the few Alfs, the Faeries of Light, in the game her spell should not have been able to destroyImmortal Objects.

Now that the gate had fallen to pieces onto the ground with a loud clang, Titania stepped through the door and onto the path outside. An experimental tug with her wings showed it was for some reason locked, yet she was able to bypass that limitation and delete the lock. She might not be able to access the system, but it appeared she can fix anything that is wrong about her current avatar's coding. Within seconds she was in flight, and she followed the footpaths and entered the World Tree.

Once inside, Titania blinked in surprise at the décor the GMs have chosen for the place. The walls and floor were only plain white, giving the place a sterile feel instead of anything that would fit the residence of Alfs and rulers. She had known, from the information Cardinal had prepared for her, the developers hadn't got around to creating the Capital of the Alfs for one reason or another, but she had thought they would make the place look better than some random laboratory. The style here looked to belong more in some other science fiction story or game than in ALO. Shaking her head, Titania looked at the map on the wall – why was there one physically when the GMs can just open a menu window for it normally, she thought, but ignored the sentiment as this ended up helping her – and decided to make her way to one of the closest available administrator access terminals. Surely not everything in this game had been broken, and how was she going to fix this current mess if she didn't even have the right tools?

Muffled sounds of what appeared to be melee combat reached her ears as she came closer to her destination. _Now what?_ Titania thought, as she readied a medium attack spell, Small Comet, with one hand and opened the door with her other. With how things have been acting up, it did not hurt to be prepared. _Did some kind of prototype mob went berserk or something?_

The sight that greeted her was not what she expected, even with the vast amount of knowledge available to her. There were several hundred people in the large room, most of them huddled at the back. Closer to her were some warriors in melee with what appeared to be some giant slugs with multiple tentacles that did not match any of the ALO mobs in her database. Titania thought it was strange for the people here to be using melee attacks when the game was designed more with flight and magic combat in mind, but what had caught her attention more was that all the humanoids here are Alfs according to her senses. That should not have been possible – as far as she knew the Alfs are a player race not yet completed despite the game being released to public for a long time.

For a moment she had thought the ones here are all GMs, but then discarded the idea. It seemed unlikely for ALO to have – after a quick count – three hundred GMs, or for them to all be logged in at once. Upon another look, with kids that seemed no older than 13 years among the three hundred the GM option seemed more unlikely to be the case. Then there was the fact none of the equipment the people here are using was familiar to her; the various clothing, armour and weapons are different from the style of the faeries the developers designed. That made the idea of these people being some beta players testing out some new features of the game also unlikely…

"Asuna-sama?" One of the players closest to her said in surprise. He was wearing armour coloured in white with red markings, a colour tone similar to her current dress, and wielded a two-handed sword. It appeared in the time she had stood there thinking about the possibilities the combat had already stopped, with the slugs defeated and laid dead with slime oozing out of their corpse. With that man's surprised speech many of the other players here looked towards her, and their expressions seemed to light up in recognition.

"It really is her!"  
"Asuna 'the Flash'!"  
"She's here as well?"  
"How's she doing that light trick?"

Titania ignored such murmurings of the other players, and extinguished her attack spell – it appeared she did not need to have prepared one after all. She then walked up to the man that noticed her first, and asked:

"My name is Titania, the Fairy Queen of Alfheim Online, and the acting GM program with Cardinal currently indisposed. Who are you people, and how did you manage to log in with those accounts?"

"… huh?" Whatever the man was expecting to hear from her, that obviously was not it. "You mean… you're not Asuna-sama? But you look so much like her…"

"I have no idea who this 'Asuna' is," Titania spoke, cutting him off. "In case you did not hear me previously, I said my name is Titania. Now, some answers, please?"

And so the man in front of her – he called himself Arguile – spoke. He said he, and the rest of the three hundred players present, were from another VRMMO called Sword Art Online, or SAO. That game was supposedly to have been cleared after being turned into a death-trap, and the remaining 6,000 players left were to be released from the virtual world. But after the system announcement, the three hundred players here had somehow instead of waking up on a hospital bed they found themselves here in ALO. Nishida, a player who looked like an old man, had come forward to see if she was this 'Asuna' or not, and ended up adding a few extra bits of information to try and help.

It was actually thanks to the old man that Titania got as much information as she did. Arguile kept trying to bring up irrelevant points like he was the lieutenant of the second squad of the guild called the 'Knights of Blood', and of a man named Heathcliff – or rather, his real name being Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of SAO – to see if she could remember anything about them. Titania was unfazed by any of Arguile's prompts, showing no signs of recognition at any of these tidbits, even as the identity of this 'Heathcliff' is actually Kayaba dropped a metaphorical bombshell among the other players. A moment of agitated chatter began to spread among them, before being quieted down by a cold look on Titania's part. Titania was not a program made to deal with players, so her knowledge of human emotions and expressions are limited, but she knew enough that such a look by her would suffice in regaining control of the situation. Otherwise her face was set in a default, neutral expression. Arguile had commented it made her look even more distant than she had been when she was the KoB's Sub-Commander, to which Titania had to explain, again, she was not the player they knew.

"So," Titania concluded, "you people have no idea how you got here, or why your accounts have been modified to be belonging to the unreleased player race of Alfheim."

"Unfortunately, that seems to be the case," Nishida said with a sigh. "I wish we actually _do_ have some answers, this way none of us would be as confused as we are now."

"So, what is going to happen to us now, Asu-, no, Titania-san?" Arguile asked.

"I have the task of fixing ALO right now, and I don't believe any of you can help me with that-"

"Actually, Titania-san, I used to work as a network engineer and used to help maintaining the SAO servers," Nishida interrupted. "I don't specialize in the VR software part, but I believe I know enough of the basics to help out. Especially considering if this 'Alfheim Online' is running the same Cardinal program like SAO's one. Granted, I wasn't involved in developing the Cardinal of SAO, so I'm not sure how much help I can be…"

"…" Titania took a moment to consider Nishida's usefulness, before finally nodding her head. "Very well. You will accompany me to help me fix this current issue, after I send everyone else here to sleep here for the time being."

"To sleep? Why would you do that?" Arguile asked with a confused voice, tinged with disbelief that she can do that.

"My top priority is repairing what is wrong with the ALO systems, and after that the 61,340 registered ALO players that were online as of last count," Titania replied as glowing scripts began to circle around her, without any incantation or chanting. "None of which involves you people here. I do not have the resources or the time to be dealing with you people right now, and I cannot risk complications cropping up as I try and conduct my repairs. Therefore, sending you all to sleep is the best option here."

"Wait-"

The two dozen words written by some unspoken command from Titania remained in the air, and then glowed brightly. The room seemed to be waver, like being under the heat of the midday sun on the road, and then drowsiness assaulted the many players here. Soon, all of the players present were asleep, barring Nishida who gaped in surprise. From what Titania have been told, SAO didn't have spells and the old man was probably too surprised to do anything to stop her. Not that he would be able to do anything, anyway. Slumber Zone was a high level Alf AoE spell available to her personally as the Fairy Queen, something the designers left with her as they toyed with the idea of making her an boss character of the World Tree. She would have been the supporting boss character to Fairy King Oberon, casting buff and debuff spells while Oberon would be focused with the attacking spells. To make up for the high manoeuvrability and evasion capability of the Fae races with their wings, Slumber Zone had a 100% success rate of inducing sleep if it hits and was unaffected by the player's own resilience against status effects. To the SAO players unused to the nuances of an Alf character or even a winged Fae, sending them all to sleep was not difficult.

"Would they be alright?" Nishida asked worriedly, following Titania as she moved to leave the room. He had many questions to ask her, apparently, and she would answer the reasonable ones as she tries to find out about the rest of this lab.

"If not, I will deal with it later after the most pressing matters at hand are resolved," Titania said without hesitation, exiting the room. "I would be failing my duty if in trying to help these three hundred players, thousands of others players have suffered instead."

"While your motive to save as many as possible is admirable, I must object to treating people as only figures to be counted," Nishida said tentatively, showing his disagreement softly and did not try to make himself a target of being put to sleep. "Humans are a bit more than that."

"I am not a program designed to primarily to deal with human issues, so what are humans exactly is not my problem," Titania said somewhat bluntly. "If you have no logic to refute my earlier concerns about leaving them awake, then please keep silent on this topic."

"As you wish, then," Nishida acquiesced. "Maybe it's a good thing you're not Asuna-san after all… that poor boy, Kirito, would probably be heartbroken if he saw his wife became like this…"

Titania tuned Nishida's words out after that, not caring about topics that were not relevant to her current task and only gave short replies to relevant questions. The name 'Kirito' had sparked something akin to recognition for maybe a split second to her, before fading into the background.

Truth be told, maybe she did not have to put them all to sleep – Titania could maybe send them around the lab to scout for the locations of the rest of the command consoles, saving herself to focus on what she had in mind next. However, she instinctively felt for some reason it was best to make them all asleep and not running around this place. There was a few among the three hundred that inexplicably made Titania feel it was a bad idea to let them be awake, sending a proverbial chill down her spine. Especially those three hooded men, their body mostly hidden by dark cloaks, that had retreated into a corner and gazed at her like she was some sort of prey. Before she had control of the system back and make sure she has the properties of Immortal Object on her, she would not feel safe.

-][-

Colbert had finally managed to speak with Old Osmond, after the headmaster had eventually settled things down. Whatever lessons the students had left for the day was cancelled, and the staff members are to check for damages both to the buildings and people within the Academy.

"So, Professor Colbert, you suspect Miss Valliere to be the one responsible for the sudden appearance of that tree?" Old Osmond said as he reached for his pipe. The old man had a few vices, no doubt about that, and he took this chance for him to indulge in one of them. His secretary, Miss Longueville, was not around to harass him in trying to curb him of this habit at this moment, and he took the chance to take a deep huff of smoke.

"While that tree did not show up in the summoning circle, it, and the resulting… chaos, for a lack of better word, did show up around the time Miss Valliere's summoning," Colbert replied. "There is a chance that the tree is indeed Miss Valliere's familiar. Fortunately, we can test this easily enough – if Miss Valliere perform the 'Contract Servant' spell on that tree, we would know if that was the intended familiar or not."

"And you intend to take Miss Valliere to that tree, hmm," Old Osmond hummed thoughtfully. He shifted his glance momentarily to the young girl in question, and the other two students next to her. The Zerbst girl and her quiet Gallian friend had for some reason insisted to come along, and it was now that the brown-skinned beauty among them spoke:

"Old Osmond, we would like to come along to see for ourselves whether Louise here have really summoned that tree, or whether this was all just a coincidence."

"This does not concern you, _Zerbst_," Louise spat out the Germanian's name like it was some kind of foul curse, before Old Osmond could even reply. "I don't see why you insist on coming along."

"Miss Valliere does have a point, disregarding her unsuitable hostile manner," Old Osmond said blandly, shutting the pinked-haired girl up as she remembered with a blush she was speaking in front of the headmaster and another member of the faculty. Thankfully, the other members of the staff were busy elsewhere in the school checking for damages and did not witness her loss of control. "Additionally, you and Miss Tabitha here have only just recently summoned your familiars, it would be best if you two take this time to improve your bonds with them instead. A Salamander of the Fire Dragon Mountains and a Wind Dragon could be troublesome if not handled correctly, even after the Contract Servant spell."

Old Osmond thought he saw Tabitha's hand tighten ever so slightly at his mention of 'Wind Dragon', but he did not have any idea why she would have that reaction. His wandering mind was brought back to the topic at hand by Kirche's response:

"Of course this concerns me," Kirche said, puffing up her considerable chest with pride. "It is only natural for me to want to see if little Louise here has finally become a mage worth the Valliere name. The Vallieres have been rivals to the Zerbst family for generations, and it would be insulting if even after this Louise fails to provide any kind of competition for me. The von Zerbsts are not so blind as to declare weaklings as their rivals."

"I do believe there is a rule against taking family feuds into the Academy," Old Osmond remarked, even as the pink-haired girl's face coloured into a shade of pink even darker than her hair at Kirche's declaration. "That reason alone will not suffice in convincing me to let you or your friend here to go along with Professor Colbert, Miss Zerbst."

"Need external checks," Tabitha said quietly. "Staff members may be biased."

"Excuse me?" Colbert frowned at the blue-haired girl's words.

"With only Professor Colbert going along, we can't be sure if Louise really have bound that tree as her familiar or it is just talk," Kirche expanded Tabitha's reasoning. "Throughout the year Louise has been allowed to stay in the Academy despite having Zero successes with magic, something that should have expelled any other student. We would like to see with our own eyes that Louise here has truly succeeded, and not only allowed to stay in the Academy due to her family background or Tristainian nobles being lenient towards their own."

"Why, you…!"

"_Enough, children_," Colbert said sharply, tapping his staff on the floor loudly to gain their attention as Louise reached for her wand at the blatant insult to her capability, and to the integrity of her countrymen. "Do remember you're in front of the headmaster here."

"It's alright, Jean," Old Osmond waved Colbert's concern off. "It's not like I care that much about propriety myself. And it is a legitimate concern if students believe our Academy's capability is questionable.

"Alright, Miss Zerbst, and Miss Tabitha, if you truly wish to go along then you have my permission to do so. Nonetheless," Old Osmond warned them, "if there's trouble on the way the Academy and its staff members takes no responsibility. You both are Triangle class mages, and should be able to take care of yourselves. If any dangerous creatures that resides in the tree were to attack and you two are harmed, do not expect Professor Colbert to come to your aid."

"Hah!" Kirche gave a decidedly unladylike snort. "Do forgive me if I don't expect much from our esteemed pacifist professor here in combat. Me and Tabitha can take care of ourselves."

"_I_ can. You, I'm worried about. Hence why I'm going with you." Tabitha said tonelessly.

"Tabitha!" Kirche said in a false scandalized voice. "I'm shocked you have so little confidence in me. I'm glad you care, though. Glad to know I have someone to watch out for me in case Louise accidentally blows us all up."

Colbert sighed as the situation once again threatened to spiral into petty violence, and had to be contained once more. Such peace-making was not included in his expectations as being a teacher when he had signed up for this job.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

-][-

Kirito kept an eye out and about, searching for anything that looked suspicious as they flew. To his sides were some other players that Sakuya and Alicia had sent with them: his sister Leafa, a Salamander named Carmond, a Cait Sith hunter named KoKo that was in Arrun when the 'incident' happened, and two other Sylphs from the World Tree raiding team, Clyde and Emshael. They were asked to scout out what appeared to be a medieval castle that was not present back in ALO.

What had first led to this event one of the reports Sakuya and Alicia have received. Reports had come in about the state of the city to the faction leaders, as lacking a GM people looked to them for guidance for now. Most of the players in Arrun took Sakuya and Alicia's advice to find inns and houses to wait out the current crisis for now, and most went quietly. Sakuya and her current aides however were still bogged down by some players with questions and reports.

One such report was from the teams led by Richard and Kotarou, the groups Sakuya had sent off earlier to ascertain what happened to the Sylph and Cait Sith capitals. Before they had gotten far they came back and informed their leader that the surrounding landscapes seem to have been changed, a bit different to what was there before the 'bug'. This report was supported by many other players who were on the edge of the city and decided what passed for authority among the Fae right now with a lack of GMs to complain to needed to know this. Sakuya then asked one of her Sylph players to fly up as high as he could, and look out with the Farsight spell to see if the landscape around the World Tree had indeed changed. Based on this general overview, they would then decide whether to send out teams for reconnaissance, and whether it would be worth the effort.

Leafa volunteered to go along as well for the Farsight scouting, as the World Tree was huge and it would be more efficient to have multiple people searching at once. Kirito was sorely tempted to go along with Leafa, but he opted instead to stay with Yui on the ground; with a lack of writing utensils for recording information after the system was down, Yui's memory and calculating abilities proved to be a great asset in helping the faction leaders keeping track of everything. As much as Kirito would like an excuse to go try and fly up onto the World Tree, checking if with the system being bugged there is a possibility that the wall blocking him from Asuna was gone in the process, he didn't think he can take Yui away from her current task. And it would not feel quite right if he managed to meet up with Asuna without Yui along with him.

Thankfully, one of the other scouts had managed to answer the question of that barrier for him, albeit unintentionally – one of the Sylph players accidently flew into the barrier by mistake, without the system warning asking him to turn back. There was nothing for Kirito to do but to grit his teeth at another possibility gone. Right now, his desire to reach the top of the World Tree burned as intensively as before, but he was not going to try and attempt the Grand Quest when he has a chance of dying for real. As much as he wants to see Asuna again, he will need to be alive to be able to meet her.

True to form, the spell that was mostly used to scout out incoming foes lived up to its name, and managed to cover a wide area around the World Tree. Many of the landmarks around Arrun were gone, the NPCs as well. One of the scouts reported back there was a castle that were not in ALO out in the distance, and so Kirito volunteered to go out and take a look. If he had to be stuck standing around doing nothing he feels he might go crazy, unable to make any headway to seeing Asuna. Besides, exploring unknown areas was something he was familiar with, being a Frontliner in Aincrad adjusting to new floors all the time. In the middle of a discussion about what items are still present in Arrun, Sakuya and Alicia agreed to send him on the mission with a few other players for support. Kirito might be an expert in reacting to unknown situations, but it would be good if he has some people that know what the area used to look like and can back him up in a fight. While they had enough trouble to patrol the entirety of Arrun with only fifty or so high level faction-aligned players, they can still afford to send some with Kirito and or fill the gap with volunteers. KoKo and Carmond, for example, were such volunteers that had skills which may help and aren't novices if things went in an unexpected tangent.

Yui, though she had wanted to come, would be more helpful right now with Sakuya and Alicia and so the navigation pixie stayed behind for the time being. Kirito wasn't afraid Yui would be hurt if she was with him, he was willing to take her down with him into the dungeon below the Black Iron Palace after all. Though the young AI didn't like it, she was left with Sakuya and Alicia, with both the Sylph and Cait Sith leaders promising no matter what happens in Arrun they would keep Yui safe.

Back to the present – Clyde flew closer to Kirito, and yelled to make himself heard over the wind as they flew, "You're Kirito, right? The 'Black Swordsman' of SAO? What would bring a SAO survivor back into VR gaming?"

"Clyde!" Leafa shouted from the other side of Kirito. "Isn't a rude question to ask?!"

"No, it's alright," Kirito said back to his sister. "I'm not offended by this question or anything. Though," Kirito turned back to Clyde, "how did you know about that 'Black Swordsman' part?"

"Rumours on the net were that the Black Swordsman tracked down and defeated Kayaba Akihiko in single combat, wagering his life for the option of releasing everyone in SAO if he won," Clyde explained. "To a lot of people, the guy's a hero; and if it wasn't for seeing you in action yesterday when you took down Eugene, I'd never have believed that rumour or you're the guy that managed to do it."

"I'm no hero," Kirito averted his gaze from Clyde, focusing back onto searching the surroundings. Talking like this only served to remind him that Asuna was still stuck on top of the World Tree, that SAO for him hasn't quite ended yet. Additionally, it sickened him that he was called a 'hero' when he was responsible for quite a few deaths back in Aincrad. It wasn't like he could save anyone, he had got Sachi killed a year ago and almost lost Asuna as well back on Floor 75. "I just did my best to survive, and fighting Kayaba at that time was mostly to save my own hide. Our physical bodies were frail as it is, if we didn't clear the game soon we might have died anyway.

"Look, if you want to know why I've came back to VRMMOs, I'll tell you – but after we're done scouting here and on our way back, okay? For now, keep an eye out for things."

"Yessir." Clyde seemed to understand Kirito would like to do his job first before chatting, and went back to his position. The rest of them remained silent as they made their way to the castle, with a few comments here and there remarking how the place did not look like how ALO used to be – Kirito would not know himself, he hadn't been in the game long enough to tell the difference.

Barely a few minutes after Clyde's attempt at conversation, Kirito called the group to slow down.

"We're being watched," Kirito informed them tensely. Out of the many Outside System Skills, abilities not listed on the user interface, the players had managed to develop Kirito had picked up a few here and there. The most common one used by nearly all of the Frontliners were Switch, moving out of a Mob's attack range and timing it just right so the next player can come in to fight the Mob without the Mob escaping or keep going after the first player. Another, rarer OSS was Distinguish, being able to tell where everything is by sound effects. While Kirito did not manage to obtain that particular skill, he did manage to train himself up in Hypersense instead. Hypersense was the ability to tell whether there are any hostile intent in the area, or if someone was looking at you. In this case, Kirito was feeling the latter on their group right now.

"Really?" KoKo asked, glancing around at the landscape. "I don't see anyone… and I'm pretty sure the stealth-capable Mobs don't normally hang out in this area. How do you know we're being watched, anyway?"

"Well…" Kirito thought about explaining Hypersense to her, but then thought against it. He didn't think the ALO players would be inclined to believe in what is practically a sixth sense, not programed into the system at that, and it would take too long to explain right now. "I'll explain later. For now though, can you guys send out search spells as we continue flying, please? I'm pretty sure our watchers are coming from the direction towards the castle anyway, so we won't lose any time looking."

"Alright, it's your call." KoKo shrugged and casted her Tracer Searcher spell, then what looked like small winged felines began to appear. KoKo sent them out in front of her as they continued flying. The Slyph players sent out what looked like swallows as well, though Carmond apologised for not being to cast Tracer Searcher – his own Magic level isn't that high, being a casual ALO player at best.

"Aren't you going to send out Tracers as well, Kirito?" KoKo asked the Spriggan.

"I'm not that good with Magic, actually," Kirito confessed. "But I do have alternatives. Watch."

Kirito activated his own Tracking skill, with his eyes beginning to emit a faint green glow. He also started to look around where he thought the observers are coming from, even as they flew closer.

"Oh, the Tracking skill?" KoKo looked over to Kirito with interest. "I'm surprised people actually take the time to train it up. Sure, at maxed skill level Tracking can out-perform any Tracer-type spell and it doesn't cost even a single MP to use, but you're limited in range with that and can only find things in line of sight. Not worth the time to train, according to most people."

"Yeah," Clyde nodded absently, his attention half taken by the scenes his birds have been sending him. "Most players prefer to not train the skills that are partly covered by Magic, due to opportunity cost. You have to take up a slot for skills with its utility already mostly covered by Magic anyway, so most people prefer to train up on Magic and leave the skill slots for other non-combat related skills magic can't replicate. Herblore or Smithing related skills, for example."

"Personal preference, I guess," Kirito replied with a shrug. He wasn't going to offer the info that his game avatar was basically running from the skills he had back in SAO. Sure, he worked for his skill levels just like the rest of them had for theirs, but he still felt a bit ashamed he's gone straight into cheating with ALO, not playing the game as it was meant to be played. He had no qualms in doing so as this was for the sake of Asuna, but the gamer in him didn't like having to take advantage of it.

"Guys, focus your Tracers over that direction," Kirito said as he slowed down to a hover, pointing at a patch of grass a small bit of distance off from the road. "I can feel the gaze coming from over there-"

As Kirito laid his green-lit eyes onto where he thought the observers are located, 'they' suddenly appeared. With what looked like a bubble bursting, three humans riding on horses were revealed as the bubble faded, along with a small girl no larger than Alicia riding on what appeared to be a blue dragon with them. Expressions of disbelief were on both the airborne Fae and the humans below, though the ones below Kirito were showing fear as well. Except for the middle-aged bald man down below, instead of fear he tensed up in this situation not unlike how Kirito remembered some of the SAO Frontliners acted when faced with a surprising event. All of them held onto wands or staves of some sort, suggesting that they had found a party of mages right now. Three of them wore some kind of school uniform you might see in European or American schools, while the man was in some kind of brown robes.

"You weren't kidding when you said there are watchers, huh," KoKo said absently, observing the people below them and letting her Tracers disappear. It appeared to Kirito that the other ALO players, apart from Leafa, hadn't really believed him when he said they were being watched. "They're humans, too, from the looks of things. When did ALO have human options for players or NPCs?"

"Never did, if I remember it right," Leafa said quietly, with various noises of agreement from the other players with them. "Just what is going on?"

"I think I have a good idea," Kirito said with a heavy sigh, turning off his Tracking as he did so, "but I hope that I'm really, really wrong about this. I'm gonna go down to talk with that old guy. Land to rest your wings for now, but be prepared to fly on short notice if things go wrong."

"What? You can't be serious in going alone, can you?" Leafa said in astonishment. "I'm coming with you."

"Leafa, I don't think having two people approaching them will be seen as 'coming in peace' with how high-strung they look right now," Kirito tried to dissuade her. "That old man seemed to be experienced with something like this as well, coming forward by himself to show they're not hostile. Trust me, and let me deal with this, alright?"

"… fine, Kirito," Leafa sighed. "But I'll be ready to cast healing spells on you if things do go wrong, okay?"

"Just make sure you, or anyone else for that matter, do things that might end up being mistaken as trying to attack them before a fight actually breaks out," Kirito replied. "If possible I'd like to settle this peacefully, without having to dodge spells on our way to that castle."

Having said that, Kirito slowly lowered himself towards the ground, his hands open and to his sides to show he was not wielding any weapons. Sure, he had an impressively large sword that was almost as tall as he was strapped onto his back, but hopefully the guy with the staff won't hold it against him…

-][-

After Colbert had asked the Academy's serving staff to ready the horses, they made their way to the giant tree off in the distance. Luckily for him, Kirche had agreed to keep this trip as peaceful as possible when Tabitha asked her fiery friend to do so. The small Gallian girl had taken the opportunity to bring her wind dragon familiar along with her, so as to deepen their bonds, and decided to fly ahead to scout for anything unexpected. Colbert approved of that, both because seeing one of his students being proactive in trying to get to know her familiar better, and because it was a tactically sound move. It might just be paranoia, but he did not feel like this trip would be as simple as to just reach the tree and have Louise bind it. Due to that alertness however, when he had felt something approaching them in high speed and hidden by some sort of wind spell he had almost instinctively tried to roast the blue-haired girl and her dragon, thinking she was a hidden attacker diving down on them.

"Miss Tabitha, what were you thinking!" Colbert exclaimed at her. She had almost forced their horses to throw them off from the suddenness of her actions, since the Academy horses aren't the war stallions of the army which are used to such suddenness. "Forcing your dragon to dive down like that-"

"Distant-viewing spell. Ahead. _Now_."

The petite girl said urgently, ignoring Colbert's admonishment in how she handled her familiar dangerously as she opted to focus on reshaping her stealth spell, what looked like a thin hemispherical layer of wind, so that it covered all of them. Colbert began casting the Dot-level Wind spell himself to see just what had their scout found that needed urgent attention, and from the corners of his eyes he could see Kirche doing the same thing.

What he saw made his blood run cold, and sweat began forming on his forehead.

_Elves._ Six of them, heading right for the Academy if their flight path stayed on their current course. Even if such a low number of them was no match for a fully armed mage knight squadron working in unison, it would still be enough to wipe out the Academy completely. Judging from how they are approaching at speed without any attempt at stealth, it was likely the incoming group knew this as well and acted with impunity.

"What's going on?" Louise asked in confusion, for once not showing her anger or trying to hold said anger in today. Thankfully even she knew better to try and make things difficult when the remaining members of this group looked like they've just stared death in the face.

"We need to go back to the Academy, _now_," the Germanian among them said with urgency. "We need to warn them about the attack! Why didn't you go back and warn them, Tabitha?"

"Not sacrificing you," Tabitha said immediately. "This way, we're most likely to live."

"Can someone _please_ explain to me what is going on?" Louise said again, this time with more insistence and reining in her annoyance at being left out of the loop. She seemed to be doing that a lot today, Colbert noted, trying to distract himself from the fact Halkeginia's ancient enemies have suddenly showed up out of nowhere.

"Long story short, there are elves coming towards us now and we better get off this road immediately," Colbert said hurriedly and directed his horse to do so. "Miss Tabitha, how confident are you with this stealth spell?"

"Triangle class, Wind element. 'Presence Concealment'. Barring searching spells directed at us, we should be safe," Tabitha reported as she followed, along with the rest of his students. Louise couldn't decide if everyone around her had gone mad, but followed along on her horse and kept quiet just in case they were right.

"I hope you're right," Colbert said worriedly. All he could do now was hide and wait, then after the flying elves went past he will head immediately to the Capital to call for help. As much as wanted to protect the rest of his students back at the Academy, even he knew it was futile for him to try and stop six elves by himself. The best he can hope for was for Old Osmond to stop fooling around as soon as the fighting starts and show just how he earned the position of Headmaster, buying enough time for him to get reinforcements. The old man was a pervert and a slacker, yes, but he's also competent and an honourable man deep down – Old Osmond would die before abandoning the Academy to attackers just to save his own skin. The best Colbert can hope to do right now was protect the three students with him right now.

However, things did not go as Colbert expected.

"Can anyone else hear that?" Louise asked suddenly. "It sounds like… music?"

Colbert could hear them too. A high pitched sound from, if he's not mistaken, string instruments predominantly, and some other instruments added into the mix. The tempo of the sounds seemed to slow down as the group of elves slowed as they came closer, suggesting that it was those ethereal wings they had that was making this sound. A horribly impractical design of the flight spell, Colbert thought, in that you couldn't even sneak up on people while flying. Then again, the elves are powerful enough maybe they built this music into their flight so they can warn their prey to start running.

The one clad in black among them seemed to be the one in charge and gave some orders. The female in yellow then began to cast a spell of some sort, with what looked like writing materializing in the air around her. Glowing, winged felines formed and then scattered out from her, with three elves in green among them also doing the same, except with summoning small glowing birds instead.

"Searching spells…" Tabitha said grimly. Kirche gulped nervously as she saw the spell – or was it the contracted spirits the Firstborn races command? – began to descend onto the ground and spread out. "Not good."

Colbert briefly considered the idea of getting his students to all get onto Tabitha's dragon and flee, as it looked like they are going to be found anyway, while he himself will try and buy them some time. Before he can give word to this idea however, the elves had come close enough to be able to make out details without having to resort to magic to see them clearly. Behind him, he heard Louise took a sudden sharp intake of breath as she saw the pointy-eared warriors come closer, realizing the professor and her classmates were not joking around.

The one in black seemed to point at them and said something – likely the order for the searches to look over at their direction, as there were no glowing scripts accompanying his gesture – before the hemisphere of wind around them collapsed without any warning.

"Wha-?!" Both Kirche and Louise exclaimed. "Tabitha? Why did you take down the barrier?" Kirche hissed at her friend.

"Spell forcibly broken, like it was just parchment," Tabitha replied numbly, like she was shocked at this outcome. "Ruptured without warning, not my doing… likely to be his, however."

At her gesture, the four humans present looked up at the black-clad figure. At this distance they could see he wore a black overcoat, and what small amount of skin he showed were as pale as ash. A sword's handle was poking out from behind one shoulder, and he had jet black spiky hair that was messy from his flight. What drew their attention the most however was his eyes – it glowed an eerie green, before it faded to reveal he had eyes as dark as his clothing. Even without the glow however, his eyes were startling. He gazed down upon them carefully, as if gauging how dangerous they might be to his group. Despite his deceptively young appearance, his posture and focus on them belied experience like that of a veteran fighter.

"Eyes that can dispel magic…? As much as I'd like to say that's impossible, we _are_ talking about flying elves here," Kirche said with a forced laugh. "Oh good Lord… we're all going to die here, aren't we? Fighting elves…"

Thankfully, for some reason, the elves above them did not take advantage of their moment of shock and ensuing discussion to eliminate them all. Apart from their leader, who had kept his glowing eyes on them, the rest of his group seemed as surprised at this outcome as the humans below were.

Or maybe they were just discussing how to kill them all as entertainingly as possible, and yet not take too long before they back to their original assignment. Colbert wouldn't know how elves might think about things, what little he knew about them suggested they had an alien way of thinking compared to humans.

"I am going to try and reason with them," Colbert told his three students. "In the meantime, if it looks like they are going to attack, flee without me. Split up, try to report back to the Academy or contact anyone that can help. Above all else, try and _stay alive_."

Colbert ignored Kirche's snort of contempt at his pacifist nature, at how he wanted to solve things without violence in this situation, and the sudden change of it turning into a choking sound as he declared he'll buy time for them to escape. He dismounted from his horse, walking slowly towards the hovering group in front of him and kept his arms to the side while pointing his staff away from anyone. In his slow approach he observed the rest of the group of elves, which he was sure they were doing the same to him and his students from above:

To one side of the leader in black was one small female in yellow and tan coloured light armour, wearing a helmet that had designed with the shape of cat ears in mind. To her side was someone dressed in heavy red armour that concealed the gender of the wearer, with a set of shield and sword with him or her. On the other side of their leader were three elves in a green motif, two males in what was clearly top quality armour that covered them fully and had swords of equal worth to their sides. The final one of the green-clad elves looked to be the one least suitable for combat, her clothing being the least suitable for combat amongst them as far as he could tell. Colbert marked her down as a magic specialist as support for their head on fighters because of that, despite a curved sword to her side – she just didn't seem suitably attired for head on fighting.

The elves seemed to be willing to negotiate with him, as the one in black began to descend towards him slowly with his hands to the side, showing he's now wielding any weapons. That was only small comfort though, considering the strength of the elves lies more with their magic as opposed to their impressive reflexes or their weapon skills – chances are, even without weapons the elf could kill him in a dozen different ways. The rest of the black-clad elf's group descended some distance behind him, though the female in green looked like she was ready to step in and support on a moment's notice, from how she seemed to be as tense as Colbert was. Things could easily turn into a massacre here if Colbert was not careful.

"Greetings. I'm Professor Colbert, a teacher at the Tristain Academy of Magic," Colbert began to say as the apparent youthful elf stopped approximately ten mails from him, "I teach the Fire-element classes to second and third year students there, and also teach basic magic theory to the first years."

"Hello to you too," the elf replied neutrally. "I'm Kirito, a Spriggan who is currently employed by Lady Sakuya, the current leader of the Sylphs. In light of recent events, I guess I'm also marginally in the service of Lady Alicia Rue, who is the leader of the Cait Siths."

_So far, so good_, Colbert thought. Things didn't start – and end with – his swift and painful death as he had half-expected. Though most of the terms used by this Kirito were unfamiliar to him – the Sylphs he had read somewhere are lesser Wind spirits, but he has no idea what kind of entities Spriggans or Cait Sith were. Likewise, the names 'Sakuya' and 'Alicia Rue' doesn't ring any bells for him, not being any names from old myths about the Firstborn races or spirits he has come across. Then again, he was not exactly well read in this field…

"May I inquire into your purpose here in the heart of Tristain's territory? Elves as far as I know don't venture out from their territory in the Sahara often, if at all," Colbert asked politely.

"… Elves?" Kirito tilted his head questioningly. "Is this a terminology difference? We're 'Faeries', not elves. Have you heard about the nine faerie races of Alfheim, or the World Tree they are trying to reach the top of?"

"I'm afraid not," Colbert shook his head even as his mind raced. As far as anyone in Halkeginia knew, the elves were not split into nine races. Or even into two races. They held a united front, a single nation that could beat back simultaneous invasions from both Halkeginia to their west and Rub'al Khali to their east with absurd ease. "The only 'World Tree' I can think of is the port at La Rochelle, but the size of that tree pales in comparison to the one that showed up suddenly over there. Then again, I must admit I am not an expert in this field…"

"I see," Kirito nodded once, his eyes seemed calculating at this piece of revelation. "To answer your previous question, the six of us here are to investigate the castle over there – the Tristain Academy of Magic you mentioned, I assume? – that appeared in the landscape that was not there before the incident that affected Arrun and the World Tree. Though from your point of view, it might be more accurate to say when that incident occurred Arrun and our World Tree were brought over here instead…"

"Arrun?" Colbert asked.

"The neutral capital city of Alfheim, located at the base of the World Tree," Kirito explained. "There are also other neutral towns and villages in Alfheim, or so I've been told, that's smaller than Arrun. Apart from those places, the only other cities are the Faction Capitals of each of the nine faerie races."

Colbert was certain Kirito was looking intently at his posture, his expressions, to see if he knew anything about what he was talking about. The reasons were unfathomable to Colbert however, the Fire mage could not understand why an elf – or as he called themselves, 'faeries' – would be so focused on finding out what a professor he had just met knew about his people.

More importantly, Colbert focused on what Kirito had said about Arrun:

"Wait, so an entire city of your people was brought over here?" Colbert gasped. That was not good. Assuming the faeries' capital was anything like that of Tristain's, Tristainia, with a population of at least tens of thousands of people, it would be a disaster. Unlike the humans with their commoner/noble divide of magic users, every single elven citizen was at least a capable magic user and fighter with capability roughly that of a human Triangle class mage. If the faeries are of similar capabilities, then their city alone would hold enough force to be able to deal critical damage to the entirety of Tristain's military forces should it come to war.

"As far as we know, we're the only ones," Kirito said solemnly. "Communication methods that allow us to contact others regardless of distance aren't working right now, so we can't check if the other capitals or towns have appeared here right now. On that matter, I don't suppose you know anything about how we – that is, the World Tree and inhabitants of Arrun – might have got here, do you?"

"No, I can't think of anything," Colbert replied, trying to keep his voice level in his tension. Kirito's gaze became sharper with his last question, and the slight shift in the Spriggan's stance made it clear he knew he was asking a critical question that the answer to it might turn this conversation into a battle if it did not go well. And to be technical about it, Colbert doesn't _know _anything about this, merely suspects them. He'll be damned before he lets his students be in danger because of his careless words. "We were affected by a bright flash of light and what felt like the world itself shaking apart, and after that had passed we saw the giant tree in the distance. We thought it might have had something to do with this occurrence, and moved to investigate."

"Hmm…"

-][-

Something about Colbert's words didn't add up, Kirito decided. He snuck a glance to Colbert's 'party' at the back. Upon closer inspection, there's something that felt off about the entire set-up. He was no expert when it came to a party of mages, but there should be the general roles with a group of fighters. For example, a tank, healer, main damage dealer, and so on.

Colbert felt like the main damage dealer with a 'STR-build' in terms of magic, or maybe a 'tank' that draws the 'hate value' of any opponent so the others in his group can attack with less problems. He certainly seemed to be the most dangerous one of his party. The blue-haired girl looked to be next most experienced after Colbert, possibly giving a support role. She's probably an 'AGI-build' in terms of mages and fights like Argo, focusing on fast attacks and evading enemy's moves. The red-haired girl looked to be possibly another damage dealer, though she seems to not have diversified into being a tank as well, lacking the combat experience to try.

Then there was the pink-haired girl. Kirito had thought of her to be maybe the healer of the group, or maybe the status buff/debuffer. From how she seems to be trembling however that didn't seem to be the case – there's a noticeable combat experience gap between her and the rest of her group. Rather than being a member of the party in her own right, she seemed more like one of those weak NPCs in escort missions that was a pain in the backside to get to the end without dying. It was like having a newbie in Aincrad that had never left the Town of Beginnings being forced into a Frontline guild beyond Floor 30.

So, this probably wasn't a simple recon mission for them. Why would there be an escort mission to the World Tree, then, was the question. If Kirito had to guess, it was because they're involved in bringing the World Tree and Arrun here somehow. Assuming, of course, this is actually all now some kind of 'real' reality like he thought, and not something like Kayaba messing with them all from beyond the grave and changing the ALO systems. On the other hand, even if this was some kind of 'fake' world, chances are this could be the beginning of the Quest that can fix everything.

Either way, time to find out for sure.

"So you can tell me for sure, then," Kirito began to say, and openly glanced over at where Colbert's students were behind him. "That the pink-haired girl over there have nothing to do with how we might have got here?"

-][-

Louise flinched at Kirito's words. Tabitha had casted 'Wind Whispers' earlier, so they can hear the conversation between Professor Colbert and the elf, or now as they have heard, faerie, so they can have some warning to flee before their enemy attacks. Louise was scared out of her wits, and wasn't confident she would be able to escape if it came down to that. She was not a skilled rider, even assuming her horse would be able to outrun the faeries. She wouldn't last a minute fleeing before being shot down by spells from above. Nonetheless she strived to not show all that on the surface. She might not have mother's 'Rule of Steel' discipline, but she would not let her emotions drive her into blind panic. A Valliere was better than that, and if she was going to die she'd go down fighting as best as she could. That self-control was now on the verge of fraying apart, however, as she was sure the youth named Kirito had noticed her reaction.

Louise gripped the reins to her horse tighter, and every bit of her body screamed to start escaping now if she wanted to live. Her honour though would not allow her to run before the Zerbst did, since even if she manages to live through this somehow by fleeing now, her mother would not forgive this shame on the Valliere family name and what it meant to be a Noble. Louise would rather die here and now, with her pride intact, than to live with shame for the rest of her life.

-][-

"Why in the world would you think that?" Colbert protested. "Miss Valliere is just a student at the Academy. And to be able to bring something like that giant tree and a city of people over, that's impossible even with magic!"

"But the impossible had happened," Kirito replied coolly. "The World Tree, Arrun, and the pla- our people had appeared here. I agree with you that this should have been impossible, even with the knowledge and resources on our side… but that does not explain how here and now, we are speaking with you in this impossible situation.

"As for why I would think so: you're going on a possibly dangerous recon mission, checking out an unknown situation. I can understand why you brought the blue-haired girl over there, she's used to doing this kind of things. The red-head, too, while she's not an experienced fighter like her friend there I can tell she's confident of her abilities. There are signs of tension, nervousness, yeah… but not being taken over by fear. She's someone who has the theoretical skills, but not the real combat experience on the field.

"Then there's Miss Valliere over there. Timid, and trying to put up a brave front. Unless she has some kind of switch that makes her a fearsome berserker in battle, I'm guessing she's just an inexperienced little girl that has no place in a recon mission. If anything, this seems more like an escort mission, with you three as guards for her and on your way to take her to the World Tree."

Colbert opened his mouth, and then closed it. This repeated several more times, before the professor gave up in trying to dodge the question. "You're very observant, aren't you?"

"After a few dozen Quests on Aincrad's Frontlines, you either become this observant or you die," the black-haired youth replied with barely any reaction at his past experiences. "So, care to change your previous answer?"

"I'll acknowledge that we were going to try and bring Miss Valliere to the… World Tree… as you said," Colbert admitted. "There was a familiar summoning ritual earlier today, and that tree showed up a bit after Miss Valliere attempted to summon her familiar. However, we had no idea this outcome was possible, or even that the summoning spell would bring along a city of people. We just wanted to see if that tree was somehow Miss Valliere's familiar."

"There's no lasting harm done… this far, anyway," Kirito said. "I don't suppose we can be sent back to where we came from? That's the most pressing thing right now for us, and if she can do that then we won't have to go bother the others at the Academy."

"That's… not possible, as far as I know," Colbert said apologetically. For a second he considered trying to bluff his way out of this, saying they could be sent back, but decided against it. It would only postpone the inevitable outburst, and once the faeries had found out after they have been tricked then their fury would be even more fearsome than finding out now, that Colbert was sure of. Damage control, even if he wasn't sure if it would make any difference here, was the best answer in his view. "The familiar summoning spell normally calls a willing creature to be the mage's companion for life, and in over six thousand years of history there have been no records of a familiar being sent back magically to where it came from. It's not just that traditionally speaking it would be blasphemy to go against a sacred ritual, but also we have no idea how to even accomplish this goal with our magic."

"Wait, _six thousand years of history_ and nobody had ever attempted to do this?" Kirito asked incredulously. "Not even records of something, like, I don't know, condemning a mage for the crime of researching a way to reverse this ritual?"

"It's practically a law of magic that this can't be done," Colbert argued. "It's like how the sun will always rise from the east, it's something no amount of magic or spellcasting can change. The summoning is a one-way journey, unfortunately."

"There has to be a way," Kirito muttered, almost as much to himself as it was a reply to Colbert. "The impossible have been done before, surely the same can be said for our situation…"

"Maybe you'd want to speak with the Headmaster of the Academy, a mage named Old Osmond," Colbert suggested. "I'm sure if anyone in Tristain can help resolving this matter, it would be him. It would certainly be better than trying to rush things through by ourselves, correct? And your group were planning on making a visit to the Academy anyway…"

"…" Kirito took a few moments to consider Colbert's proposal. The bald professor prayed fervently that the Spriggan would accept, instead of doing something drastic like kidnapping Louise and take her back to try and find some ultimately futile way to force her to send them back somehow. He tried to portray the issue as something related to more about the laws of magic than about an individual's actions, to shift blame from any single person. And by giving Kirito an option that has some chance of succeeding it would hopefully make things less likely to end in bloodshed.

"Alright; I accept," Kirito finally said. "You and your students can go back to the Academy first; we'll catch up as soon as I tell others about the situation here. Chances are we won't be that far behind you, our flight speed is most likely faster than how fast you can ride on the horses."

"Many thanks, Kirito," Colbert said with a sigh of relief. "I'm glad we can settle things without having to fight or cause deaths."

"Things aren't over yet, professor," Kirito told him. "And it won't be until we're sent back. Many of us have family and friends waiting for us back where we're summoned from. I don't even want to imagine the kind of chaos we might end up causing if the pla- people of Alfheim are overcome with grief and anger, finding out they can't get back and started lashing out."

"I-I understand," Colbert said hesitatingly. He hoped that was just a friendly reminder by Kirito and not actually a veiled threat of violent retribution against Tristain for their actions if things do not go well. "Well, I'd better be going, then."

Colbert then turned around and walked quickly back to his students. While he didn't think Kirito was the kind of person to attack him while his back was turned, he glanced back anyway. The black-clad youth also made his way back to his group, and began to fill his comrades in on his decision. Upon returning to his students, who were all unharmed thankfully, he noticed an atmosphere of gloom around them. Louise looked like she was on the verge of breaking down, visibly shaking, and the other two girls present also did not look like they are in any way relieved the faeries had not struck them down right here.

"I take it you all have heard our conversation, then?" Colbert asked rhetorically and mounted back onto his horse. He wasn't surprised that one of them, most likely Tabitha, had probably tried to listen in discreetly for one reason or another. "Good, it'll save me some time in filling you all in. We'll talk as we ride back to notify Old Osmond of this development, time is of the essence here. Miss Tabitha, please go on ahead to give a brief warning to Old Osmond we're about to receive some… 'difficult'… visitors."

"No point," Tabitha replied from her position on her dragon. "Headmaster and staff members are unlikely to clear the entrance by the time faeries arrive. Not on my words alone. Better to stay with you all and provide support."

Colbert gritted his teeth. He can't exactly argue that some of his colleagues, for example Professor Keita, would be as banal as to ignore outlandish warnings because it did not fit their expectations of the world. And Old Osmond wouldn't be as quick to wield his authority as heavily as he would if Colbert was the one delivering the warning instead of Tabitha, forcing the rest of the staff to comply instantly. "Alright, but we will have to ride fast to get there as soon as possible."

Without waiting for a reply, Colbert began to drive his horse into a gallop as he headed back towards the Academy, with the rest of his students following.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Thanks to LordsFire for beta-ing.

* * *

**Chapter Four**

-][-

As Kirito reached where Leafa and others have landed, he filled them in on his conversation with Colbert. To his surprise, he actually didn't have to say much.

"Wait, you guys already knew what I have been saying to Colbert?" Kirito asked blankly.

"That's mostly because of me," KoKo admitted, her furry ears visible, the Cait Syth having taken her helmet off earlier, "I cast Hone Senses on myself to be able to hear what you two were talking about. Then I repeated the words you two said to each other verbatim to everyone else here. The Sylphs had wind magic that could do the same, and would probably have been more useful, but the longer incantation time compared to Hone Senses might have been mistaken for an attack spell on our side."

"It wasn't like they didn't cast anything either," Carmond noted, his armour clinking as he shifted his weight from one leg to another. "I saw the blue girl do something as well, allowed them to be able to hear you judging from their reactions to your words. We had almost thought she was trying to pull a sneak attack on you."

"Heck, once Carmond pointed her out to us, she felt like one of those Spriggan assassins what with how quiet she was," Clyde gave an exaggerated shudder. "The ones that role-played as the 'ninja' type anyway, not the other kind like Morgiana's mercs. Her guys, well, they talked and laughed as much as they killed. I'm glad she tends to be neutral on the whole 'race to the top of the World Tree' thing."

"Focus, Clyde," KoKo told him. "We're going off-topic. Anyway, Kirito, what was that conversation just then about?" The Cait Sith among them addressed their current team leader. "You make it sound like we're actually now in some kind of 'real life' with magic or something, from how you talked to Colbert there. Isn't this just a system bug?"

"System bugs don't boost the details of your surroundings, and remove the game-related functions like menus and Immortal Object codes," Kirito replied, scratching his head absently. "And Colbert's reactions… well, it's not like I haven't met advanced Quest AIs that are almost indistinguishable from people, I saw those as early as Aincrad's third Floor. Things could indeed be some sort of elaborate conspiracy with the specs of ALO suddenly being improved to a level over twenty years ahead of what we currently have, with all of us are now guinea pigs in this new experiment… but I personally think it's more likely we've ended up brought over into a new world."

"This is messed up," Clyde shook his head. "Argh, whatever. Either way, regardless whether this is real or some kind of bizarre quest, Miss Pink over there seems to be the one responsible. How are we going to deal with this?"

"As Colbert suggested, we go see this 'Old Osmond' and see what he might be able to do for us," Kirito shrugged. "Things don't seem to be as easy as just getting the girl to correct her mistake and send us all back, though. She might be the reason we were brought here, but it doesn't explain how we're now in our game avatar bodies. All that 'laws of magic' stuff, too, feels a bit off to me. No extensive experiments to try and explore the limitations of their abilities… did we get dropped into an enforced medieval time period or something? He also spoke about 'sacred rituals' or something like that…"

"That, and probably because not everyone thinks like VRMMO gamers. We always do tend to try and find the easy way out, exploiting any unintended flaws in the system for our own gain," Clyde said slyly, raising a chuckle from the players present. Even Carmond and Leafa, who were only casual players and not stereotypical gamer geeks, contributed a bit due to knowing some people like that in ALO. Kirito's laugh was a bit forced though, as Clyde's comments reminded him of his 'Beta Cheater', or 'Beater', reputation from SAO.

"Emshael, do you mind flying back to Arrun and giving a progress report to Sakuya-san and Alicia-san?" Kirito asked one of the Slyphs. "With your gear and level you should be able to make it back alone without much trouble. Just in case though, maybe Leafa should go with you…"

"Jeez, Kirito," Leafa scowled. "You don't have to treat me as a fragile kid, you know? I can take care of myself too. You've seen what I'm capable of on our way to the World Tree."

"Sorry, Leafa," Kirito apologised. "I just don't want to see you hurt. Especially with how unpredictable things are right now."

"I'll be fine, Kirito," Emshael told him. The quiet Sylph activated his wings and prepared to fly. "Even if something happens, with Ancient Warrior equipment I think I'll manage. It'll be better if you have more support with you when you go to that Academy, too. Just to be safe, when do you think you will be done at that castle?"

"Let's see… we don't have any way of keeping track of time, due to the menu and its clock being gone. None of us have anything like watches on us either…" Kirito thought about it for a moment. "Tell Sakuya-san to expect us to be back by nightfall. Have someone keep an eye on the direction of the Academy with that Farsight spell too, just in case."

"Alright," Emshael nodded, and took off. "I'll see you all back at Arrun, then."

"We better get going, as well," Kirito said as they watched Emshael begin to fly back to Arrun. "While it's unlikely, I don't want to get there too long after Colbert does. There might be an ambush or something waiting for us, with how they seemed to be afraid of faeries."

"Hey, we can lift off at any time," Clyde remarked, then gave a joking smirk. "That is, unless you want to spend some more time trying to convince your girlfriend here to try and go back before us."

"Wha-?" Both Kirito and Leafa were nonplussed at his comment. "No, we're not like that!"

"Leafa here is my younger sister, that's all," Kirito added. "I just don't want to see my family in danger. I care a lot for her, but not that way."

"Y-yeah," Leafa agreed with Kirito's words. Kirito put down the light blush on her face to embarrassment at the misunderstanding, and nothing more. He turned away and gave the signal to start flying, and missed how Leafa trembled almost imperceptibly from his response and how KoKo's eyes seemed to narrow slightly at the two's interactions. Without any further words, KoKo placed her helmet back onto her head and flew along after the rest of the group.

-][-

_This doesn't make any sense_, Titania thought exasperatedly. _Just what has happened to this system?_

She and Nishida had searched the entire area of this place, and have found five administrator terminals scattered throughout the lab building. Titania picked one that was not in the room with the 300 SAO players, and began to examine the extent of the damage. Nishida was allowed to access the data from the console as well, though he did not have the authority to conduct any changes without Titania's explicit permission.

One of the main issues they had found was players were no longer able to access their menus or inventory, and the 'log out' function had disappeared entirely. NPCs and mobs had vanished as well, with the exception of some of the more advanced Bosses and high level creatures. The experience rates players were capable of obtaining from performing certain actions seemed to have been damaged as well, reduced to a small percentage of what they would have received before the incident. More research would be needed to find out what exactly had happened to that aspect.

Those were just the readily identifiable issues. Other things that Titania could not find a reason for having changed had showed up on the console as well. For one thing, the geography of Alfheim had been changed from that of an island to that of a country, with land to the southern and eastern sides. Her map did not show the entire continent however, only the territory around the nine Faction Capitals and of the World Tree in the centre. In addition, the ring of mountains around the World Tree had disappeared, the various Valleys and Corridors no longer present.

The snow to the north around the Gnome's Capital, Nissengrof, also seemed to have simply vanished – or rather, _shifted_ might be a better word. The city of Nissengrof was mainly just a large number of caves in the giant mine the Gnomes called home, and a new series of caverns now rested below their Capital. Said caves housed the flora and fauna of the icy plains that once surrounded the City of Gnomes. If any faeries wanted access to the resources that were once in the icy areas, they would need to explore the new dungeon.

And, for some reason, that was not the only thing that had been shifted. The locations of two of the Capitals had been changed: Gatan, the Salamander Capital, seemed to have swapped places with Parasel, the Undine Capital. The city of the water faeries was no longer on the east side of Alfheim, but to the south in the middle of a large lake. Titania could not understand why this had occurred; the rest of the Capitals were mostly in their original positions, such as the fortress Freelia, which was isolated on a small island off the west coast, or the Penwether Ruins of the Spriggans to the northeast. Maybe there was something in that lake that could explain why the water faeries were moved there?

The most shocking discovery, however, was the state of the World Tree. Despite it being called that, this place had more in common with the Penwether Ruins than actual plants, being a large Immortal Object that could house a massive amount of players. The World Tree did not need nutrients, sunlight or other such things; it just _existed_ as part of the game.

That was no longer the case. A diagram Titania called up had shown an analysis of how the World Tree gathered enough energy to sustain itself, from the sunlight shining onto its substantial amount of leaves, to absorbing the ambient magic in the area. The roots seemed to go several kilometres down into the ground, feeding off of some kind of magical rocks to sustain the tree. It was as though the World Tree was now real, a magical entity in its own right.

_How is this even possible…?_ Titania clenched her hands into fists tightly. _Could the terminals be affected as well, showing erroneous data? Is this system really beyond repair, with even my tools untrustworthy? That is just…_

"Titania-san, are you alright?" Nishida said worriedly, after seeing Titania having something like a panic attack. "Is something wrong? You've been to be staring at that screen for a while now."

"I'm fine, Nishida-san," Titania replied after taking a deep breath to steady herself. The possibility that the primary purpose that she had been created for, repairing Alfheim Online, was no longer possible had shaken her greatly. However, there was no reason to divulge that. "I was just… surprised… at the extent of the damage to the system, that's all."

Titania tried to shrug off her previous reaction as nothing, and went back to typing on the console. However, a few specks of red on the side of some of her fingers that were not there previously caught her attention.

"Blood…?" Titania questioned herself in a small, baffled voice. The Faerie Queen knew what it was, what with the amount of knowledge the AI had been programmed with, but she was sure the system did not have the processing power to spare for showing it on avatars. From what Titania knew, the ability to feel pain was a function in the game, albeit heavily limited for safety reasons, but the capability of showing blood should not have been something within ALO. Titania brought her hands up closer for inspection, and then turned her hands so that her palms were now facing her. Her fingernails had dug into her palms, cutting into her skin, and some blood flowed freely. Poking at one of the cuts carefully, Titania ascertained she was not seeing things, that the stinging sensation on her hand was real.

"Did you say something, Titania-san?" Nishida queried from his place opposite her, though he was a bit distracted by a report about player death mechanics.

"No, it's nothing," Titania said as she healed her minor scratches with a flash of magic. "But I'm starting to think the situation right now is much more complicated than what I have suspected earlier."

Her words hid any signs of how worried she was with each successive new discovery.

-][-

Louise's body shook, and she had difficulty breathing that was not entirely due to the effort involved in staying on her horse while it dashed back towards the Academy. Every fibre of her being felt weak at when thinking of the implications of what her summoning might mean for herself, and what it meant for the entire country of Tristain. It was not just because of her fear of being expelled from the Academy – though granted, they didn't manage to get to what those elves called the 'World Tree', and Louise was not able to bind anything to prove she has completed the summoning ritual. It was also that because of her, there was now an entire city of elves in the middle of Tristain's territory.

Louise did not believe for a single moment these so-called 'faeries' were anything other than elves, speaking bare-faced lies to try and gain the advantage from this situation with their trickery. The elves had betrayed the Founder Brimir first with their honeyed words for an alliance, then eventually struck him down and chased the rest of his people out of the Holy Land. The elves were known to be as cunning as they were powerful, doubtless as soon as they were brought here they decided to concoct a bold yet nonsensical story of being faeries.

To make her feel worse, there was nothing Louise could think of that would fix the current situation, let alone anything that she could do herself. Louise doubted that Tristain's current forces can repel the elves' onslaught, as they were a small nation already struggling to fend off their larger neighbours, such as the barbaric Germania or the behemoth that was Gallia. Even if their fair Tristain somehow emerged victorious, they would be weakened enough to be consumed by other countries, like carrion birds scavenging the leftovers from a battlefield. Louise knew enough about current events, as well as from her old history lessons back at the Valliere estate to know this to be true. As for what she herself could do, even as it hurt to admit it, Louise couldn't do anything. She was just a failure at magic, there was no way she could solve the matter by waving her wand to send the elves back where they came from. That nobody else could do the same and reverse the summoning ritual was small comfort, considering the fate of her country right then.

Louise hoped that even if the elves' speed and current forces were sufficient to be able to strike at the capital and take Tristania before the sun even set, they would not be inclined to do so; their ancient enemy had for some reason declined to launch raids against Halkeginia throughout the eons after Founder Brimir's death, and as far as recorded history went they were content to leave humanity alone after chasing them out of the Holy Land. And with what Louise had studied in her wide-ranging bookwork to make up for her deficiencies in magic, she knew about how elves tended to play the long game, due to their lifespans being nearly double or triple that of a human's. The elves would be thinking about gains in timeframes of the decades or centuries ahead as opposed to a mere handful of years as humans tended to. This line of thought brought no comfort to her however, as all that meant was that perhaps these elves would instead try to subvert Tristainians into being their servants instead of starting outright war between the two sides.

To be blunt, the extent of her failure was such that it had doomed her entire country no matter the outcome. Louise would not be surprised if her mother executed her personally in order to take responsibility for the incident to try wipe away the shame it would have brought on the Valliere house as the ones responsible for the fall of their nation. Tears threatened to overflow from her eyes at the thought of that, and Louise kept her head low as she rode.

"-ise. Louise!" Kirche shouted from next to her. "Are you listening to me at all, Louise? We're almost back at the Academy now!"

Louise sat up straight, startled. She was so caught up in her thoughts that the trip back to the Academy have passed by only as a blur to her. It was a wonder she had not fallen off her horse by this point.

"… were you crying, Louise?" Kirche asked, her voice unsure as to what kind of tone to make. "There seems to be tears near your eyes."

"Shut up, Zerbst," Louise hastily brought a hand up to her eyes to wipe away any possible evidence suggesting weakness. "I'm just unused to fast riding, that's all. The wind stung at my eyes on the way back."

"Make way!" Colbert shouted out from ahead of them, his timing just right to remove the need for Louise to respond further to Kirche's questions. "We have an urgent message for Old Osmond!"

The door guards hastened to follow Colbert's order, stepping to the side as their group of horses – plus dragon – went through the main Academy gates. Colbert slowed his horse down as fast as he could, and then dismounted with similar haste. "Miss Tabitha, I'll leave you in charge here for now. Please make sure that, if our guests arrive before I return with Old Osmond, the students of the Academy are not foolish enough to start anything."

"… Understood," Tabitha nodded, and kept an eye out towards the horizon, scanning for the silhouettes of the incoming elves. Colbert had scarcely left the scene, rushing gracelessly into the main Academy tower, before problems had arisen in the courtyard.

"Hey, Zero!" Montmorency, plus Guiche and a few other students that were present at the summoning ritual, approached the trio that had just returned. "Crying because not even Professor Colbert was willing to stomach your delusions anymore? We saw him rush off to Old Osmond's office. Did you finally fail so badly you went from being laughable to pathetic-"

"Not the time," Tabitha interjected. "Leave. Area not safe."

"What was that?" Montmorency asked incredulously. "Tabitha, are you actually sticking up for the Zero?"

"Look, as much fun as it might be to pick on little Louise here," this time it was Kirche that responded, "Now is _really_ not the time. Some… 'guests', I guess, are about to visit the Academy regarding to that giant tree. You're better off not seeing those people when they arrive."

"Are you serious?" Montmorency said disbelievingly, her surprise only increased after Kirche's words. "You too, von Zerbst? Did the Zero's explosions blow away your sanity or something?"

"See for yourself," Tabitha pointed towards the sky, where five figures began to approach. "And no matter what, do not attack them."

Louise took a vindictive pleasure in watching the Flood and her poor excuse of a boyfriend first go slack-jawed at the incoming elves, and then pale-faced as the elves landed roughly twenty mails from the Academy gates. The commoner guards were no better in their responses, trembling so obviously that you didn't need to hear their chainmail tinkling from all the shaking to know they were scared beyond all measure.

"Hello?" The one at the front, Kirito, called out as they walked the rest of the way towards the Academy in an attempt to appear non-threatening. Or at least, as non-threatening as a group of well armed Elves could be. "We've arrived like we said we would earlier… Is something wrong?" That last bit was asked hesitantly, as if he had no idea why their group would be feared so much by the inhabitants of this castle.

"E-, El-, El-," Guiche began to hyperventilate, unable to even complete a single word.

"_ELVES!_" Montmorency screeched, terror clear on her face. Her words broke the tension, and she turned to try and run as far away as she could. Guiche had already turned and fled with a head start on his 'beloved', while the other students were similarly absent, already escaping. In their fear they forget they were mages with wands, blind panic leading them to run away with their legs, instead of using levitation or other magical means to flee.

"So, what's with everyone's reactions?" The one in green armour asked with curiosity at the spectacle. "Any reason why they all started running away frantically at the sight of pointy ears?"

Louise gaped at the man – or rather, elf, or whatever you would call a male elf – at his gall to ask such a question when it was blatantly obvious. If she wasn't amused herself at how her tormenters had fled like cowards with no shred of noble pride, she would have been tempted to call the elf out for his lies.

"Oh yeah, Professor Colbert never did tell you about this, did he?" Kirche said, belatedly realizing the topic didn't come up before. "Elves – which you fairies look a lot like, I should add – are the ancient enemies of the humans of Halkeginia. Supposedly one of them could take down an entire army, and they're absurdly powerful in terms of magic. They're horrors that veterans from previous Crusades come back and have nightmares about."

"Is that so?" The elf in red armour said thoughtfully. Now that he had spoken, Louise and others could tell it was a male underneath all that metal. While some might have thought there was no way a female could be under that kind of armour anyway, Louise herself had not been so certain; her own mother had a set of armour which looked almost as heavy, though it was more built for someone with human limits than what that elf had on him.

"Well, I can say we're not elves, if only because faeries aren't on the level of army killers," the elf in green armour tried to joke. "Exceptions like Kirito-san here aside, anyway. The guy can cut through hundreds of World Tree Guardians like nothing."

"Can you please not try to scare the locals witless?" Kirito asked exasperatedly as Louise and the other two students present flinched, after shooting him fearful glances. "We've already caused a commotion with our looks alone. This mission is turning out hard enough already without you aggro'ing the entire place against us."

"Sorry man," the other elf apologised. "Still trying to come to grips that this might be all _real_, and we're dealing with more than just NPCs. Besides, I kinda doubt I can make things any worse right now: the whole place is buzzing around in panic because of those other kids running off spreading the news."

Now that he mentioned it, Louise saw many students – the ones with no self-preservation instincts, no doubt – pointing out the window at them and discussing things with loud voices. The entire Academy seemed to be in a furore, the screams and shouts constantly coming out from the towers suggesting news was travelling fast. Most of the students took one glance at the elves and fled further inside, while the more foolhardy ones were trying to pump themselves up to believe that they could take 'just' five elves. That glory and honour awaited anyone that was willing to step out and confront them.

"Everyone, please calm down," a voice boomed out across the Academy; Old Osmond had finally appeared from the central building, his voice magically augmented to be heard across the entire school. Professor Colbert was not far behind him, looking frazzled by the stress of the situation. "Our current guests are not here for conflict, unless the Academy provides them with a reason to be violent. Students, please return to your rooms – all lessons left for the remainder of today are canceled. Staff members, please make sure there are no stragglers left outside of the dormitories and enforce this curfew. Myself and Professor Colbert will be seeing to our guests."

With that said, the old mage walked out of the main tower and towards them unhesitatingly, without any visible fear of the elves. Professor Colbert barked a few more orders to get people moving, before following along.

"Sorry you had to see that," Old Osmond said casually in a more normal volume for speaking. "As unfortunate as it is, youths these days are easily excited. Here at the Tristain Academy of Magic we try to teach them more than just magical skills, trying to bestow some restraint upon them… but I'm afraid we're not always successful."

"Some people might say all teenagers are like that, no matter where you are," the elf in red armour said diplomatically, earning a scowl from the elf in green armour. Kirito and the female elf in the outrageous clothing gave a small chuckle at his words, while the short elf in the cat-eared helm seemed truly amused at the exchange. "No offence taken."

"May I ask where the last member of your group went?" Colbert asked Kirito. "There were six of you when we left earlier."

"We sent him back to Arrun to report to Lady Sakuya about the current situation," Kirito replied, "And for her to expect our return by nightfall. Hopefully our discussions here would not take too long, or if it does we can come back tomorrow to continue our talks."

"I see," Colbert said with a tight smile. There was no way he had missed the underlying point, that if the group here did not make it back safely their next contact with the elves might be with a fully equipped strike force sent to avenge the loss of their comrades.

"Enough pleasantries," Old Osmond coughed, likely due to smoke from the pipe that he was still holding in his free hand. "Shall we move to my office for this discussion? Important matters should hardly be discussed out here at the main gates."

"Sure. Lead the way," Kirito gave a curt nod, then his group followed Old Osmond inside the main tower.

-][-

On their walk up to Old Osmond's office, Kirito kept a vigilant watch of their surroundings every step of the way. He was only paying partial attention to the small talk between the two groups, after they introduced themselves to each other. Occasionally Kirito activated his Tracking skill, to see if he had missed any traps that might be hidden and used against them. Heaven knew there had been enough of those back in SAO dungeons.

"Could you please not do that?" Colbert asked in a pained, yet polite, voice. "It would be a problem to try and re-enchant the entire building again with the permanence spell that reduces wear and tear."

"Huh?" Kirito asked with a frown.

"That glow-y eyes thing you do to negate magic," Kirche explained for him. For some reason, the red-haired girl, her friend Tabitha, and the pink-haired girl named Louise Valliere were also here with them, instead of being back at their dormitory rooms. "You know, how you broke Tabitha's stealth spell?"

"Oh, that," Kirito finally realizing what they were talking about. "Don't worry, that technique can only be used to reveal things that are hidden. It's not something that negates any kind of magic within my sight."

"Though it'd be interesting if it could actually do that," Clyde said with a small chuckle. "Imagine going PK-ing with that kind of technique on your side. It'd be bloody hax and gamebreaking."

"'Hax'?" Old Osmond asked with interest. The old man seemed to be taking their presence in stride, completely lacking in fear of the elves' reputation. Either he believed their words to Colbert, that they were faeries, not elves, or he didn't care even if the ALO players were elves. If it wasn't for the fact that Osmond's fearlessness had led him to sneak glances at his younger sister's chest, Kirito might have commended him for his bravery. Now instead he was toying with the idea of scaring the stuffing out of the perverted old man instead, or maybe lighting his impressive beard on fire, if it wouldn't be an instant 'Quest failed' flag. The Headmaster felt more like one of those veteran VRMMO players than anything else; an experienced adventurer.

"Jargon term for unfair advantage," Kirito explained. "Back to the issue of my 'glowy-eyes thing' – unless you've hidden some kind of enchantment that would be harmful to us, don't worry. Anything else should be left intact. This is more for scouting purposes than anything with direct effects."

"Are we really that untrustworthy?" Old Osmond sighed theatrically. "You still have your magic, armour and swords. Should we be planning a betrayal I'm more than certain you can cut us all down easily by yourself."

"The last time I went into an unknown area while being imprudent, I was the only member of my group left alive," Kirito stated with some bitterness colouring his tone. The memory of Sachi and the rest of the Black Cats of the Full Moon guild still stung at him, even now. It was only because of Asuna that he had begun to forgive himself somewhat, but now that even his beloved was missing… "I plan on doing all that I can to not have a repeat of that situation again, no offense meant to your hospitality."

Any chance of the mood being lightened died a messy death right there. Old Osmond nodded, as if chastised, and turned his head to focus on the way to his office. He even stopped his 'appreciative' glances at the females present in the process. Colbert's own expression was complicated, as if he could relate to blaming yourself in failing your work and that led to loss of life. The students present also had similar expressions on their faces – Tabitha with slightly raised eyebrows, Kirche with looks of sympathy and surprise, while Louise seemed disapproving of him somehow.

As for the ALO players… Leafa looked at him with sympathy as well, sad that he had to go through all that. Carmond and KoKo too held similar sentiments.

"Goddamn," Clyde muttered. "They weren't kidding when they said SAO was a death-game, huh."

"Aincrad was a lot of things," Kirito said seriously. "I've made friends, comrades, and enemies there. It was an adventure as much as it was a curse. Most importantly, it was _real_, in its own way. Real enough that I don't want to lose anyone else because of my mistakes. I hope you all can understand that."

"Losing people in your adventuring party is always hard," Old Osmond sighed at the front of the motley group of people. "Thankfully, it wasn't something I had to deal with often back when I was out there. Rest assured, Mister Kirito, that I would not inflict that pain on you or your group; I swear this upon my honour as Headmaster of Tristain Academy of Magic. Besides, I would not try anything underhanded when the lives of my students are at risk in the process."

"And why are your students still here with us?" KoKo asked, taking off her helmet. The assembled locals wore surprised expressions when they saw her cat ears twitching along with her raised eyebrow. "Surely you're not using them as a sign of goodwill, hostages available for us to attack to prove your sincerity?"

"Of course not!" Colbert exclaimed sharply before Old Osmond could rebuke the question himself. "We would never do that to our own students!"

"Miss Valliere is here because of her possible role in bringing you all here to Tristain, while Miss Zerbst and Miss Tabitha are here as a third party to ensure no biased leniency are given to Miss Valliere," Old Osmond replied. "If they wish to leave right now, however, they are free to do so."

"We'll stay, Old Osmond," Kirche said to him, with the other two students nodding in agreement. Though Louise shot her a disapproving look at the suggestion that the other two would stay. "We're already involved, so we might as well stay and see this through till the end. It's not like we'll be any safer elsewhere in the Academy if things end up in a fight anyway."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Leafa commented with a bit of worry in her voice, and murmurs of agreement came in response from the rest of the ALO players.

After going through multiple flights of stairs – it was only to be expected that there were no elevators in such a setting, Kirito thought – they finally reached Old Osmond's office. A green-haired older woman with a studious air about her had opened the doors and waited for their arrival. To her credit, she didn't bat an eye at the appearance of the faeries, taking everything in stride.

"My secretary, Miss Longueville," Old Osmond introduced the woman. "She will be joining us for the meeting, making some notes for me later. Getting old means that my memory isn't what it used to be… I'm starting to need reminders these days."

"Like needing to be reminded how you are not meant to be smoking at your age, for the sake of your health?" Longueville scowled, shooting a displeased look at the pipe Old Osmond held in his hand. "Healer Aquinas did say clearly that you needed to cut back if you wanted to live another decade, even with Water magic available."

"Every man needs some vice," Old Osmond said airily, showing no signs of repentance in going against the healer's orders, "And Aquinas himself has always looked on the pessimistic side of things, blowing things out of proportion too. Are you truly so cruel as to deny an old man's comfort in his twilight years?"

The unfriendly look Longueville shot him said all that needed to be said. With an exasperated sigh, Longueville returned into the office, while muttering darkly about shameless, senile, perverted old men as she walked.

"I like her already," KoKo said quietly, sounding like she approved of Longueville's opinion. It appeared the ALO players had all caught her mutterings clearly, while the locals did not. As they filed into the office after Colbert and the others, Kirito wondered idly if their avatars had some kind of enhanced hearing compared to normal humans.

The office looked much like what any modern university professor's might, though without a computer. There was a heavy-looking wooden desk at the far end of the room, close to the large window, along with another desk to one side in the office. Shelving cabinets, paintings and bookshelves dotted the walls around them sporadically. Apart from the mages wielding staves, Kirito could almost believe this was a scene right from 'real life' and not from some kind of fantasy setting. A quick glance with the Tracking skill revealed no traps of any kind in the office either.

"To business, then?" Old Osmond asked as he settled into the chair behind his desk, while Longueville had already seated herself behind her own desk and started writing. Kirito and the other faeries were left standing near the centre of the room, while Colbert and the students stood to one side. "So what has brought you faeries to this Academy, hmm?"

-][-

Louise twitched as the lies the heathen elves told became bolder and bolder. First were the blonde female's assertions that the faeries came from an island called Alfheim, where nine 'faerie' races competed to reach the top of the giant tree to meet the 'Fairy King Oberon'. Then somehow it had turned out Alfheim was just a kind of shared dream of some sort, where commoners could play at being heroes and mages without being truly in danger. _Then_, they had the nerves to suggest that where they had came from they had no magic before that incident, and it was only after that they and the giant tree had been brought over they had turned into elves and could use real magic.

_How utterly preposterous!_ Louise's thoughts seethed. Even worse, Old Osmond seemed to be accepting their words at face value. So what if the elves could make glowing writing appear in thin air around them while they chanted an incantation? It was probably a trick, the elves were probably skilful enough spellcasters to do so even as they brought out the effects of their spell. Their wings, too, were probably some kind of spell unique to Firstborn magic users. They weren't human, after all, it made sense for them to have spells different to humans. As for why nobody in Halkeginia had noticed wings on elves and recorded it down in the 6,000 years of history, well, it was likely to be kept as a secret technique to be used in emergencies. Louise had heard about some spells being guarded jealously by various groups, keeping the details private to give them an edge in combat; one example she could think of was the Romalian Church Knights' famous 'Chorus of Praise' spell. It was not immediately obvious that the elves in front of her had wings at first glance, after all, so subterfuge was definitely possible there.

And the impudence to even consider how they might still be in a dream! Like everything in this world was not real, just figments of their imagination. Surely they didn't need it being pointed out by Old Osmond to know that?

"… So then the question is, how do we fix the current situation?" Old Osmond mused. Louise took her mind off of her righteous anger at the deceitful elves and focused on the Headmaster's words. "Am I correct in thinking all you faeries desire is to be returned home?"

"And find a way to be returned to our normal bodies, too," Kirito confirmed Old Osmond's thought. "While a superhumanly fast and strong body does have its advantages, it's probably not suitable for living among other humans. I am wary that there might be people back home that might want to lock us up to see what exactly caused this, and if it can be replicated."

"While we can feasibly think something up that can return you to where you were summoned from, even if it meant breaking more than a few church laws and possibly needing months of research…" Old Osmond coughed. "I'm afraid I know of no magic that can change your current form into what is, for all intents and purposes, a human's body. If it was that easy to negate the Firstborn races' natural advantages over humanity, we would probably already have used it long ago against the myriad of foes that prey upon our people."

"So there's no immediate solution, then?" Kirito grimaced at the idea. "But it's completely not completely hopeless right? Old Osmond, can we at least come to some sort of agreement between our two sides to help develop a solution for this mess?"

"When strictly speaking about magical research, that is probably possible," Old Osmond admitted. "But I doubt things will be that simple. It is uncertain how the nobles of Tristain will treat this incident, not to mention the Tristainian Royal Family's position. I will be sending a message to the capital of Tristainia to inform the Regent, Cardinal Mazarin, of our current situation and hope he is willing to come to the negotiation table… though whether he has enough influence to make sure the other dukes and lords do not act hastily on this is a wholly different matter. I do not know how it is among your people, Mister Kirito, but politics within Tristain and Halkeginia can be complicated."

"That's understandable, I guess," Kirito said with a grimace, visibly unhappy at the situation.

"In the short term, I am willing to try and play peacemaker between the faeries and the Crown, but how that turns out is up to your people," Old Osmond offered. "None of us here want a war between the two sides, after all."

"I'll pass that on to Lady Sakuya and Lady Alicia," Kirito noted. "I'm not exactly cut out for politics or have the authority to speak for the rest of us. Maybe a more formal representative can come by within the next few days to discuss this with you in a bit more detail?"

"That would be fine," Old Osmond said agreeably. "The Academy will probably need some time on our end to sort out things as well. Drop by when things have settled down somewhat."

"We will take our leave now, then," Kirito said with some finality, gave a slight bow, and turned towards the door.

"Professor Colbert, may we leave via the top of this tower? It would save us some effort if we fly off from a high position." Leafa asked the bald Fire mage as the elves began to exit the room.

"Hmm? Oh, sure," Colbert said belatedly. "It's probably a good idea to do so, too. In case some student or teacher gets it into their head to try and launch an attack or something as you are leaving."

"You girls are free to leave now," Old Osmond said as Colbert also left the office and took the stairs up. "The curfew will be lifted soon, so you don't have to go back to your rooms."

Louise and others knew a dismissal when they hear one. Old Osmond went back to talk to Miss Longueville about composing a message to Tristainia, and so Kirche and Tabitha left the room first. None of the two had any interest in the fine details of bureaucracy. Louise stayed, hesitating at whether to raise her doubts on Old Osmond's words. On one hand, the elves' blatant lies were believed. On the other, surely there was a reason why Old Osmond would have answered as he did...?

"… Is there a problem, Miss Valliere?" Old Osmond asked, breaking off his speech to be written down after seeing Louise remain in the room despite his words earlier. "Did you maybe wish to enquire about your continued enrolment here at the Academy?"

"What?" Louise asked in confusion, before her eyes widened at being reminded she did not bind a familiar for her summoning today. "No! Erm, well, Yes! I mean, no, that wasn't what I had wanted to ask when I stayed behind but now that you mention it I do want to know about the answer to that question-"

"Calm down, Miss Valliere," Old Osmond sighed. "As for the matter of your enrolment, no, you will not be expelled because of the technicality that you did not complete the ritual. It would be unreasonable for you to be expected to bind something guarded by a city of Firstborns – and if anyone protests against my decision, they're welcome to try and perform the deed themselves, hmph. We can hardly expect one of our young students to do something not even the mage-knights of Tristain can achieve."

Old Osmond's brows furrowed at his final sentence, no doubt remembering some nobles that would probably try and do so anyway.

"For the time being, you will be a student of this Academy as usual. Of course, I will be writing a letter to your parents explaining the situation as well, so you need have no fear of being withdrawn by your family because of this either."

"Oh," Louise said, trying not to show visible signs of relief. While she still had fears that her mother may just force her daughter to return, at least there was still a chance that she would be allowed to stay.

"So what is the matter that you wish to enquire about, Miss Valliere? I assume you have a reason to stay after that meeting was concluded?" Old Osmond asked.

"Yes, Old Osmond," Louise took a deep breath, before ploughing on: "Why did you believe those lies the elves were speaking of? I mean, obviously this was some kind trick for them to lay the groundwork for an invasion! Or assimilating Tristain into their subjects! Who can really believe that faeries actually exist, or that a society of commoners can exist without the guidance of mages? And their ruling class having no magic? That's ridiculous! Everyone knows that's impossible!"

"So, Miss Valliere," Old Osmond said with a raised eyebrow after Louise's tirade calmed down. "You stayed behind just to question my judgment on this matter? Did you believe me to be senile, perhaps?"

"Wha- No, of course not, Headmaster!" Louise hastily tried to say. She realized she may have been a bit too vehement and let her indignation colour her words to make it seem like she was accusing the Headmaster of something. In her urge to try and word her thoughts more tactfully she missed how Longueville's lips seemed to twitch like trying to hold back a smile. "I meant your act in accepting their words was so masterful that even I was wondering if you were taken in by the elves' deceit. I had to stay and ask how this was achieved."

"That's because that was no subterfuge, Miss Valliere," Old Osmond seemed to humour Louise's point of view. "I am inclined to believe they were telling the truth as they knew it."

"What? But-"

"Let me ask you instead, Miss Valliere – is 'everyone believes so', or 'goes against common knowledge', really a good argument?" Old Osmond continued. "After all, by 'common knowledge' what you have summoned today – assuming it was indeed your doing and not a coincidence of monumental proportions – should not have been possible. Or what about how 'everyone' believes the only way for nobles to count as a mage is to be proficient in one – or several – of the four elemental magic. Why, by the standards of 'everyone', you yourself would be a failure, both as a noble and as a mage."

Louise reeled back as if she had been slapped. Old Osmond's comments were hurtful, despite not intended to be so, and it reminded her of her own nightmares too well.

"I have received letters, from multiple noble families no less, that have requested for your removal from this Academy throughout the past year," Old Osmond told Louise. "The more vulgar ones suggested for you to be stripped of your noble rank and cast out, as _clearly_ by the accepted standards you are not a mage of any kind. Magic defines nobility, and all that rubbish. As if paltry talents in spellcasting alone means you are a loyal and useful servant to the Tristianian Crown, hmph. In my days we had to _earn_ the right to lord over the less fortunate commoners, where it was widely accepted that chivalry and duty came hand in hand with our privileges-"

"I do believe that's not the point you're trying to make, Old Osmond," Longueville said dryly, cutting him off from what promised to be a long sidetrack about the 'good old days'; Something not at all related to Louise's issue.

"Hmm? Oh, yes," Old Osmond refocused on the matter at hand. "My point, Miss Valliere, is that being restrained by preconceptions is not a good idea. It blinds you to other possibilities – possibilities that may prove to be useful in the future. The faeries may be the harbinger of disaster for Tristain, or they might be the key to shift the balance of power in Halkeginia to Tristain's favour. We already have dealings with non-humans, for example the numerous Water Spirits, both Greater and Lesser kinds, present here in Tristain. It would not be strange if we ended up allied with the faeries in the long run, even despite the rough history the Firstborn races have with humans."

"But Sir," Louise was unwilling to give up entirely on her position. "What about the threat of Tristain being subsumed under the influence of these… 'faeries'?"

"Better the threat of something that can be solved by diplomacy, compared to a threat that can only be solved by mobilizing entire armies," Old Osmond responded lightly. "If the faeries wish to negotiate, then we shall do so. The reality of the current situation leaves this as the best option, when the alternative is war that would only destroy both sides. Surely you can understand this much?"

At seeing Louise nod, Old Osmond went on: "And you do the nobles of Tristain a great injustice, if you believe we cannot wrangle a deal from the faeries that will be beneficial to the country's wellbeing. Politics, as distasteful as it can be, are something nobles excel in. The future of Tristain is not as grim as you think, Miss Valliere.

"I suggest you get going now, perhaps write your own correspondence to your parents about the current situation? I myself have a lot of paperwork to go through as well, unfortunate as it is, and not even magic can solve the tediousness that is bureaucracy," Old Osmond said the final words with some distaste.

"Yes, Old Osmond," Louise acknowledged his clear dismissal, and finally left the Headmaster's office.

-][-

By sunset, Titania was forced to conclude that either the Alfheim Online VRMMORPG game was now real, or the systems had been broken to the point she could not do anything to repair the situation. In addition to the data the administrator console had supplied her, and the impossible situation that she seemed to have become a creature of flesh and blood, other evidence had been found to further reinforce the idea that this situation might no longer be just data in a game. Both herself and Nishida had been experiencing hunger, thirst, and tiredness after they'd worked the entire afternoon. The former two conditions should not have been present in ALO, as while there was a Cooking skill in-game and foods to eat for a number of purposes, hunger and thirst were not programmed into the game. As for tiredness, this was more of a worry for Titania than it was for Nishida. As players were only human, it was only natural that they get tired after some time. As an AI program, exhaustion should have been something that did not happen to her, yet in spite of that Titania's eyes felt strained and her mind was feeling slightly weary.

Regardless of whether the game was now real or not, her primary goal had been deemed unlikely to succeed. And to prevent herself continuously trying to, metaphorically speaking, break her head on a wall futilely, Titania had shifted instead to her secondary objective of trying to take care of the wellbeing of the ALO players. To that end she had been working on a method to return some control of the menu to the players – though there seemed to be a snag in the process.

For some reason, the amount of changes she could make was limited to the amount of energy the World Tree had available. Another sign that things were not as simple as just being in a virtual environment anymore. The World Tree was taking in energy from the surroundings and from the strange stones below, and when making changes she had to take care not to over-use the amount of energy. Otherwise, the World Tree might be in danger of dying from lack of resources. Fortunately for everyone involved, the World Tree was a vast receptacle of power; it would take many monumental changes in quick succession for the energy levels to drop to a critical state.

An additional obstacle was that going by the simulations there was not enough processing power to restore all functions to all players; the only processing power available seemed to be the five administrator consoles, and unless she stoped all attempts in trying to repair the system it would not be enough to handle the traffic of data that 61,340 players could generate.

And speaking of the administrator consoles…

Titania looked to the side, surveying the new layout of the room. All five consoles have been linked up together in one room, and multiple World Tree Guardians had been spawned in order to work the consoles. She was glad that function still was still operational, even if it was very taxing on the energy reserves of the World Tree when compared to other actions. Spawning items was not that much more efficient in energy usage when compared to spawning NPCs, as Titania found out when she made herself some shoes and a dress that didn't leave her feeling a bit chilly even when wearing it. The spawned Guardians were delegated to data collecting with the consoles, compiling it for her to use, while she herself focused on higher order tasks. The current set-up was nowhere near the efficiency of the Cardinal System, but at the very least it was adequate in conducting the desired changes.

With the way things were going, Titania would be able to give a System Announcement soon and restore some semblance of normality to the players of ALO. Hopefully things would turn out for the better after that.

-][-

"This is… worrying," Sakuya finally said.

"Sakuya-chan, I believe a better word might be 'interesting'," Alicia said impishly, with no signs of the stress the Slyph faction leader had been showing.

After Kirito and others returned to Arrun, right about when the sun was about to fully sink below the horizon, they immediately went to report to Alicia and Sakuya about what they had found at the Academy. The two leaders took their report in stride, on top of everything else that had happened that day.

"'Interesting' by the Chinese meaning, maybe," Sakuya retorted, and then sighed. "And I was just thinking the situation can't possibly be any more complicated."

"Don't worry too much, Sakuya-chan," Alicia shrugged. "It's bad for your health. And it'll be bad if you managed to get wrinkles here as well as IRL, right?"

"I do _not_ have wrinkles in real life, thank you very much," Sakuya said with some chagrin. "I'm not that old!"

"Just teasing, just teasing," Alicia waved off Sakuya's complaints. "Just trying to lighten the mood up, that's all-"

Suddenly, some kind of alarm began to sound, cutting short the byplay of the two leaders' banter. Kirito's hand immediately went to the handle of his sword in light of the new development, while the rest of the players present looked around in surprise.

"Is it really…?" Leafa asked, not quite able to believe herself.

"It is," Sakuya confirmed with that same hesitation. Kirito was about to ask her to explain further, but then realized that an omnipresent alarm, with the sound not feeling like it came any one particular direction, could only mean one thing:

A System Announcement.

_[Players of Alfheim Online,]_ a voice began to speak as the alarm stopped. _[I am Fairy Queen Titania, the current GM of ALO, and stand-in maintenance program with the Cardinal incapacitated right now.]_

Kirito gasped at the voice that spoke out the announcement. Leafa shot him a worried glance, while Yui also seemed agitated at the development. There was no mistake about it, Kirito thought, the voice was unarguably Asuna's. But what was this talk of being 'Titania'?

_[As of five hours ago, you all might have experienced the system acting differently when compared to normal,] _Asuna continued, her voice was controlled, like when she was speaking as the Sub-commander of the KoB back on Aincrad's earlier Floor Boss raid meetings. _[This was due to a hacking attempt by outside forces, and not something intended by the company RECTO or any of its affiliated personnel. Such a change to the current game engine would have been impossible even by the resources available to the company. For your safety, please treat this change as if it had made the game a reality, as outlandish as it may seem.]_

_[While the method that caused this is unknown, what is certain is that the nine Faction Capitals, the city of Arrun, and various villages and towns within Alfheim have been transferred onto a new map along with the World Tree. Attempts to repair this situation are under way, and once a method to completely repair this is found I will notify all players.]_

_Wait, so the entire Alfheim Online world has been transferred over to this new world?_ Kirito exchanged a look with Leafa, with his sister's eyes widened in shock. It was likely Leafa also noticed that detail. Sakuya and Alicia frowned at the turn of events – while it might be good to know they weren't alone, it also meant others were stuck here with them.

_[I will keep this system announcement brief, and focus on the important matters. First off, anti-harassment codes are still active, though the effects of them have been modified. Due to current system constraints the offender will not be taken into isolation and sent away from the victim unharmed, but instead painfully removed from his or her immediate vicinity by a magical attack. Repeat offenders will be struck down instead, and your revival will be at the discretion of your Faction Leader.]_

Basically: if you try anything like that, you are as good as gone. None of the Faction Leaders would release someone like that if they did end up in that situation, or if they did they would soon be ejected from their position by the public backlash.

_[On the topic of resurrection, the data from cases such as the Mob attacks on Everdark or the riots in Gatan have shown if you are killed by some means, a Remain Light will appear in the position where you died. The Remain Light will be present for the duration of one minute. During this time revival items and spells can be used for you to be brought back without penalty. Once the minute has passed, you will not be respawned at your Faction Capital, but sent to the Entrance Chamber of the World Tree. There, you will be in limbo until someone decides to resurrect you. Fortunately, no players, including the 105 player deaths that have occurred by this point, will likely die permanently as a result of this incident due to this mechanic.]_

Cheers went up from everyone at this news, along with sighs of relief. Nobody wanted this to be a repeat of SAO, becoming a death game with thousands of casualties. Kirito was glad at this development as well, though he desperately hoped there would not be some sort of catch to this system.

_[However,] _Asuna said in a warning tone, as if to prove Kirito's fear correct. _[This process does not mean dying no longer has any penalties. While the experience points in your skills will not suffer because of this, the same cannot be said for your minds. Preliminary checks have shown there are possibilities of brain damage among the players who have died by this point. Effects from deaths may include unstable emotional states, loss of memories, or reduction in ability to reason. I will be clear about this warning: dying is still an undesirable outcome, even now.]_

That warning sobered many people up in an instant, the euphoria from before dissipated promptly. Fearful mutters began to be whispered, as everyone was unsure of the development. After all, repeated deaths leading to a player losing all ability to feel, to remember things, until they were pretty much a vegetable was not that much more appealing than a 'true' death when someone was killed. The only saving grace, it seemed, was the one minute time frame to be revived without penalties that was universal to everyone. Kirito himself remembered how resurrection in SAO was practically non-existent, and even the special event drop 'Divine Stone of Returning Soul' could only be used within ten seconds of 'death'. He was thankful that they got at least this much here, even as worry gnawed at him at how it was pretty much another life-or-death situation.

_[You may be pleased to note that I do not only have bad news,] _Asuna began to say. The ears of the Cait Sith faeries present twitched slightly at this news, though doubtless everyone was intensively focused on what Asuna was going to say next despite no such visible cues._[In light of recent events, I have decided to remove the hard limit on flight time among the faeries. From now on, you are all capable of flying freely in the skies, limited only by your own physical endurance. I realize this is poor compensation for the troubles you have all suffered thus far, but this is the best I can do for the time being.]_

Kirito felt a tingling sensation on his back, which suddenly stopped after a time. For a few seconds, nobody spoke. The ALO players were conflicted at the announcement; it looked like they didn't know whether to feel happy that the goal for ALO was now granted to everyone, or annoyed something this tremendous was handed out like a bauble to try and buy satisfaction. Kirito frowned – the Asuna he knew should know handing out the ability like this wouldn't work that well. It was almost like her experience at leading people and interacting with them had been forgotten or something.

_[Furthermore,] _Asuna went on, _[while I am unable to repair the player menu to allow full access, the majority of its function will be returned to you shortly.]_

As Asuna's words ended, Kirito felt like something was sparked at the back of his head. Him, Leafa, and everyone else in the room began to glow, like white flames are being radiated out from them. Not to the extent of a raging inferno, but more like a dull candle flame.

"Hey!"

"What's happening?"

Judging by the outcry of surprise from outside the door and similar distant exclamations that could be heard from outside the window on the streets below, this was a phenomenon that everyone in the city was experiencing. It was a relief the visual effects did not have the properties of real flames, and apart from the initial shock there was no pain involved. In the end, the flames coalesced into some kind of transparent round pendant half the size of a grown adult's palm, and then attached itself around their neck with a string that looked as ethereal as the pendant.

_[You can now use this Medallion to access functions like a map and keep records without needing writing utensils,]_ Asuna explained. _[Certain functions, such as Private Messaging, are currently unavailable to everyone as the system cannot process a large number of messages at this moment. Faction Leaders will be prioritized in being given these functions, to better coordinate the efforts to help the players that they are elected to support.]_

_[There is also a manual attached in this Medallion, allowing you to understand the full capability of this tool. This same manual includes other non-urgent knowledge that I do not have the time to cover in this announcement.]_

_[Unfortunately, your inventory cannot be accessed from this Medallion. The system that is operational at this moment cannot adjust to the materialization of items regardless of location. If you wish to access to your inventory, there will be Immortal Object storage chests located near the various Faerie Lord's Mansion in each Faction Capital for you to do so, or inside the Entrance Chamber of the World Tree. Your new Medallions will be the key to access your items.]_

_[One final topic for tonight,] _the tiredness could be heard from Asuna's tone, like she was pushing herself to finish this message. _[I would like all of the Faction Leaders to come and meet me at the top of the World Tree, at the latest three days from now, to discuss how we can help the players of Alfheim in the best manner. As for the Undines and Leprechauns Faction, whose current leaders are not present when this incident happened, voting will begin and finish tomorrow to determine new leaders. Candidates that want to put their name forward please do so tonight at the Faeries Lord's Mansion of your city.]_

_[Players of Alfheim, I wish you all good luck in the coming days.]_

And with those parting words, the system announcement ended.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Many thanks to LordsFire for beta-ing, he had provided a lot of in-depth corrections.

* * *

**Chapter Five**

-][-

"Well, I guess we're not going to get to sleep early tonight," Alicia said gloomily. "All of this is going to be a hassle to try and organize."

Kirito nodded at the Cait Sith leader, sympathetic to the Faction Leaders' new workload. With the System Announcement, there were many things that were to be done at the Entrance Chamber of the World Tree. Shortly after the announcement, the ALO players had flocked there to try and access their items from the storage chests. The tall gates that were at the entrance were now wide open, and once inside everyone could see stereotypical-looking, wooden treasure chests with metal edges that lined the edges of the walls.

Fortunately, the Entrance Chamber was large enough that dozens of players could access their inventory at once, so there were few arguments between players that are lined up waiting for their turn.

Even so, the Faction Leaders and their makeshift administrative staff in Arrun had set up watch there to ensure things did not end up in a fight with so many players gathered. Kirito was also present to act as a guard for Alicia and Sakuya, along with a small group of other elite Sylphs and Cait Siths. While it might have been better with the 'office workers' as a whole there to keep an eye on things, so as not to cause high tension among the other players, the warriors of the Slyphs and Cait Ciths earlier raid team would have preferred to be the ones on guard in force. The fighters did not expect this to be end up as some sort of PK-ing trap by the GM, luring players to gather in large numbers to be eliminated; nonetheless they remembered all too well just how much of a fight they had just half a day earlier right here in this room. Even in a fantasy VRMMO, the sight of thousands of hostile units come flying down at you was still quite a sight to behold. _Better to be safe than sorry_, the raid group players present there thought as they stood guard.

Keeping an eye on the players here was not the only work to be delegated out to the staff members of the Faction Leaders, either. With what Asuna had said about there being player deaths already, Sakuya and Alicia had ordered their revival immediately. As for where the 'dead' players were kept, the ones that came earlier into the chamber felt sure the new structure in the center of the room was the key. An obelisk made of what looked like black marble stood there, wider at the base of the structure and ending with a pyramid-shaped top. Inscribed on it were names, assumed to be those of all the players that were logged in at the time when the incident happened and left ALO in its present state. It would be more shocking if the gravestone-esque monument _didn't_ have anything to do with player deaths. Kirito himself thought it was almost like a fancier way to show what the monument back in Aincrad's Black Iron Palace had shown.

The obelisk itself did not house the poor souls, however. The hexagonal tiles that spawned the World Tree Guardians had also undergone changes with the rest of the chamber. Save for a fraction of the tiles, most there were now inert, without the glow that had characterized them. Those tiles that did glow at the moment were not the bright blue that Kirito remembered them, but a myriad of colours; red predominantly, but also brown, black, and so on. By that point, even if most players haven't been in that room before, after Asuna's announcement people realized those glowing tiles were where the players that 'died' have been sent to. As for where the World Tree Guardians would spawn from, with their old spawn points repurposed, Kirito had a suspicion that the new white crystal-covered ceiling was their new spawn point. It didn't look like there were many other places in the chamber that they could appear from.

"Anyone else here with a Magic skill of 500 or higher?" One of the volunteer staff in the chamber shouted, trying to be heard over the general conversation. "It doesn't matter even if you don't have access to the Resurrection spell! Reviving the players here only needs you to have a certain level of Magic, and a full amount of MP to use!"

"How many players have been revived so far, Alicia?" Sakuya asked, even as the calls for helpers continued to be yelled out.

"Over sixty, but we're starting to run out of players with their Magic skill that high," Alicia said with a sigh. "And I'm not quite sure it is a good idea to use up our MP potions to recharge their MPs right now, not when we're not sure we can make more of those. The core herbal ingredient for this potion is in short supply around Arrun, and the secondary component is probably unattainable now with the lesser mobs gone. Better save the MP potions for when we desperately need it to cast Resurrections on the spot."

"Or maybe with this new setting, we can harvest the Sap of the World Tree at a much higher rate than before," Sakuya mused thoughtfully. "It would free up the MP potions for other purposes, not to mention it would be useful if we can allocate every player one of the Saps potions to help others in an emergency…"

Kirito tuned out the planning of the Faction Leaders for time being, and gazed to where Leafa had gone. The Black Swordsman's sister, along with Kirito's adopted daughter Yui, had flown up to where one the newly revived players had appeared out of one of the large tiles. Leafa had a worried look on her face while Yui tried to assess how much mental damage the disoriented player had sustained, asking him several questions and requesting him to perform certain actions such as moving his hands a certain way. From how Leafa's, and everyone else's face, lightened up in relief, Yui must have declared the Salamander player to be fully functioning. The Salamander was led off by one of the other Sylphs to be told about the current situation, such as Asuna's System Announcement, while Leafa had taken Yui on to assess the next revived player.

It was a series of events that had been repeated several times by that point. Most of the revived players were at most disoriented by the experience, or still trying to come to terms with the sensation of pain and dying, and not harmed further. However, every now and then a more serious case looked to have occurred, where Leafa would stiffen and Yui would visibly look unhappy at the outcome. By Kirito's count, the chance for a serious case was less than one in ten, and none of those cases had the same air of despair around them. At least, not the kind Kirito himself had seen on the faces of many other SAO players when they saw a fellow player die right in front of them. From what Kirito can tell, Yui might have been hopeful that a full recovery is still possible even in the more serious cases. By this point, there was no player that had been severely incapacitated in any way by the experience of death. Despite that, Kirito tried to shake off the idea that it might not be the case later, but anyone that went through being a Frontliner in SAO would almost instinctively plan for the worst.

Despite the stigma of going to see a psychologist within Japanese culture, Yui's expertise was welcomed by the assembled players as she was the best hope they had to see if people would be alright. Even if Yui didn't know enough to fully understand human emotions, she at least had the knowledge to test if someone was affected beyond what could be seen at first glance. Kirito hoped that dealing with players as her original programming had intended wouldn't end up affecting Yui adversely, however. Yui did not actually have experience in carrying out her purpose in SAO as the mental healthcare program due to Cardinal, and while Kirito knew the small girl was only damaged by her inability to help he was still anxious that Yui might collapse from the experience. It was illogical, maybe, but Kirito wanted to shield the small AI he called his daughter from anything that could possibly harm her. Even if she could probably handle the things she was designed to endure.

"Worried about Yui-chan?" Sakuya asked Kirito, startling the Spriggan with the sudden question. "You've been looking at her and Leafa for quite a while now. Is something wrong?"

"No, it's nothing," Kirito admitted. "My mind just wandered for a moment there, that's all."

"It has been a long day for everyone," Sakuya acknowledged. "After the players are revived, you and Leafa should go rest for the night with Yui. You all earned it after all you've done so far."

"Yui-chan has been a great help, keeping track of everything before we got the menu back," Alicia added as she sent off another messenger. "I'm feeling a bit guilty already by keeping her here to help out with the revived players."

"Nah, it's alright," Kirito waved off Alicia's worry. "We would have wanted to check out this place before we turned in for the night anyway, so you're not holding us up from our rest. And Yui will probably never forgive herself if she didn't help the players here when she was capable of doing so."

A brief glimpse of Yui, eyes blank and wandering aimlessly in the woods of Floor 22 back in Aincrad flashed in Kirito's mind, before he forcibly dispelled that image. That was something he dearly wished would not happen here.

"We probably won't need your assistance until 9AM tomorrow," Sakuya said, glancing at Alicia for confirmation. The Cait Sith leader nodded, and Sakuya continued: "So you three can rest until then."

"So what do you have planned for us tomorrow?" Kirito asked curiously.

"The Call GM function supposedly has a scheduled time for when it is available," Sakuya explained, bringing up the button and subsequent explanation window on the menu using her Medallion. The one Faction Leaders had was twice the diameter when compared to a normal player's one for some reason, possibly reflecting the many additional functions within it. "'9AM to 7PM', it says for the current schedule; we'll call as early as possible, and ask if there's someone with the name 'Asuna' up there for you. It's the least we can do after what you've done so far for us."

"How did you-" Kirito's voice suddenly stopped, words choking within his throat as he realized what their offer meant. "T-Thank you. It means a lot to me, you two willing to help out like this," Kirito barely managed to croak out. Even if he couldn't reach the top of the World Tree with things as they were, it seemed he would be able to find out exactly what happened to Asuna in less than half a day.

"Don't mention it," Alicia hastily tried to calm Kirito down. "You've donated 100,000 Yurudo to our alliance already, after all. That's more than enough for us to allow you a phone call, isn't it?"

"Yui-chan mentioned your 'Quest' in passing to us earlier today," Sakuya said softly. "And, well, girls in general are weak to such tales of the brave hero trying to rescue his princess. How could we _not_ help, after all this?"

"This 'Asuna' girl better be worth this massive amount of effort you're going through for her," Alicia said in a serious voice, with none of her usual playful antics. "For the record, I'm going to be _really_ annoyed if a fairy tale story like this ends with the guy going through all this just to be reunited with a shrew. A dedicated guy like you deserves a happy ending with a good girl."

"You don't have to worry about that," Kirito said with a small smile, momentarily lost in reminiscence of the past. With events like partnering up to fight mobs, that time where they looked after each other when their real bodies caught a cold IRL, and how they had spent two weeks together back in their cottage on Floor 22, there was no doubt in Kirito's mind Asuna was the one for him. "I'll introduce Asuna to you when she's back. I'm certain there's nothing wrong with her that you two can nitpick at."

The exchange of words settled down into small talk after that, when the three of them had time to talk amidst the work anyway. Reports came and went, and even as the night went on there were things for the Faction Leaders to settle. Finally, Yui finished with her diagnosis of the revived players and gave her own report to Alicia and Sakuya, so Kirito and Leafa can retire for the night. The members of the Kirigaya family left as things finally began to slow down, with talks of leaving a nighttime guard duty roster being finalized.

-][-

Later that night, Leafa woke up groggily, thinking she had heard whispers, and saw brief flashes of light in the room now and then. Before she could give voice to her queries about what was going on, another voice had done so for her:

"… Papa? What are you doing?" Yui asked in her own sleepy voice. Leafa's hazy mind remembered belatedly that soon after they all had left the World Tree they had a late dinner and then went to an inn with spare rooms. All of them went to sleep soon after they changed into some spare clothing that was lying around Arrun's various wardrobes, together in the same room. With everything that had happened today – or yesterday, Leafa couldn't tell if it was past midnight now – it was only natural they wanted to stay close together in case something else happened.

"Did I wake you up, Yui?" Kirito asked the tiny girl in a low voice, trying not to bother anyone else. Leafa's eyes opened blearily, though Kirito couldn't see her doing so; his back was turned towards her, and he sat on a chair facing the window. "I'm sorry about that. Go back to sleep, it's nothing urgent. I'll try and not disturb your sleep anymore."

"Were you practicing a spell or something, Papa?" Yui queried, flying up to the top of Kirito's head and settled down in his hair like a bird in its own nest. "I thought I heard an incantation of some kind."

"Yeah, I was," Kirito admitted, and then sighed. "I couldn't sleep, so I decided my time would be better spent practicing the Words of Power for incantations. The manual in the Medallion has a lexicon for them, and some of the incantations for basic spells are here too. Though apparently if I want the wording for higher leveled spells I'd have to go find them in the Faction Capital Libraries…"

That would explain the flashes of light Leafa thought she had seen earlier. Kirito were practicing some of the more basic spells, and the glow from the runes had briefly lit the room up.

"You should try and sleep anyway, Papa," Yui told Kirito with a small yawn, her head drooping down. "It's not healthy to stay up too long. And you don't want Mama to see you with dark eyes when we finally find her, right?"

"I've stayed up long into the night before, I can handle it," Kirito said somewhat defensively. Then, as if Kirito realized he was being a bad role model for the young girl, he sighed and gave in. "Alright, let's go to sleep. Asuna probably won't forgive me if even you ended up having dark eyes."

"Mm, 'k," Yui mumbled.

Kirito dematerialized his Medallion – prior to going to sleep earlier he had found that was an available option for these trinkets – and returned to his own bed. Leafa let her eyelids drop back down before he turned around, as she didn't want Kirito to feel guilty for waking her up as well. Kirito then gingerly plucked Yui out of his hair. Once Kirito had placed her onto the bed, the tiny girl crawled next to Kirito's neck and tried to sleep there.

"No, Yui, if you sleep there I might squash you if I turn over at night," Leafa heard Kirito protesting quietly. "And it tickles with you sleeping over there."

"But it's warm and soft here," Yui mumbled in her drowsy state. "And I don't want to feel like I'm alone again, Papa."

"…" Kirito didn't say anything for a moment, before sighing again. The Spriggan scooped up his little daughter, along with her small blanket, and placed her onto his upper body gently. Kirito then used one of his hands to softly cover Yui like an extra layer of her blanket.

"You can stay like this until you're asleep, alright?" Kirito murmured. "Don't worry. I'm not going to go anywhere without you right now. I promise."

In response, Yui's grip on Kirito's shirt tightened, and made a vague noise of acknowledgement. The pixie soon dropped into a deep sleep, though she didn't let go of her father's shirt even when she had done so. Kirito gave a resigned chuckle at this development, before giving out yet another long sigh and tried to catch up on some sleep.

Over where Leafa was lying down, the young Slyph was experiencing mixed feelings at what she had just overheard. On one hand, Leafa was envious of Yui who could ask Kirito for comfort without restraint. On another, Leafa – or more accurately, as Suguha, Kazuto's cousin – was ashamed of herself for feeling this way. It was not Yui's fault that Suguha herself was hesitant in trying to rely on Kirito – or rather, her cousin Kazuto – for support. Suguha, too, wanted to latch onto her Onii-chan as a solid anchor, as someone that could keep her calm in the madness that had befallen upon Alfheim.

It was not solely because of the awkwardness, of their confused relationship between the two of them that Suguha had refrained from trying to depend upon her brother. Neither was the issue of Kazuto's own reality cannot begin once more, until his beloved Asuna was back with him, the most important one.

No, the main issue right then was probably how Kazuto was so affected by his time in Sword Art Online. Suguha had seen glimpses of it, as Leafa on her way to the World Tree with her brother back in ALO. Yet, the previous day's experience had hammered it into her just how much her brother had changed. Kazuto's persona as 'Kirito' was like a veteran of some kind; he was cautious with his actions and negotiated in such a way a normal high school student could not have accomplished. Within SAO, Kazuto had experienced so much, and had lost so much – it was not just about how he ached for the return of Asuna, but also about how keenly he felt the deaths of his comrades back in that death-game. Suguha did not want to add to Kazuto's problem more than she already had, burdening him with even more things. No matter how much Suguha had wanted to just let loose and cry out her fears and anxiety onto Kazuto, she held back her emotions. It would not be fair, she thought, if she had just thought about herself and acted without considering what Kazuto might be feeling if she had done so.

Eventually, Suguha drifted into an uneasy sleep, turmoil gnawing at her heart and mind. Suguha wrapped her arms around herself, and tried to ignore the heaviness in her heart. Only later, when Kazuto was finally free and could move on from the nightmare of SAO, then Suguha could feel she would have the right to cling on to him and ask him to help her with all her worries.

-][-

Morning came, Kirito woke up early and began to prepare for his appointment at 9am. Yui herself was not the type to try and sleep in, it seemed, and upon a bit of prodding from Kirito also woke up easily. Kirito had managed to pull on his combat clothing – with the thought he and Leafa was going to need several more sets of clothes – when Leafa herself had woke up.

"Good morning, Onii-chan…" Leafa yawned, and then squinted at Kirito. "… what did you do to your hair?"

"It seems you can take care and shape your hair using the Medallion, like how you could customize it yourself back in ALO," Kirito replied, tapping on the menu screen in front of him. His hair was slowly being forced down from standing up like a spear point. Yui flew around Kirito's head, poking at his hair experimentally. "There are several limitations to it that weren't there before, like not being able to regrow hair faster than normal after you cut it off… but if you want to change styles yourself it's possible to do so."

"And you're trying to get your old hairstyle back?" Leafa queried.

"Yeah. It would be easier to take care of as well, instead of being a spiky mess like it was when I woke up," Kirito tried to joke. "Game avatar hair really doesn't carry into reality well, it seems."

"Do you think I should cut my hair, then?" Leafa asked Kirito as she examined a handful of strands of her long blonde hair. "I wouldn't mind trying to recreate how I looked outside of ALO."

"I don't think we can change our facial appearance, Sugu," Kirito told her. "And, well, your hairstyle in real life suited you fine, but I think how you have your hair in ALO looks really good too. It would be a shame if you are going to cut it off if you really don't have to for practicality's sake."

Leafa paused at Kirito's words, and looked at Kirito intently.

"… Did I say something wrong?" Kirito hazarded a guess, turning back to look at Leafa. By this point his hair looked a lot like what he had back in SAO and real life, if not an exact copy. Yui then settled down from flying, landing on Kirito's shoulder and sat there to look at Leafa.

"It's nothing, Onii-chan," Leafa replied in a small voice. "It's just, well, I think that was the first time you called me 'Sugu' after everything that had happened yesterday."

A slight gasp came out from Kirito's mouth. Wracking his brain for memories of last night, it had indeed been as Leafa said. "I… I'm sorry, Sugu. I got preoccupied with my own problems again, and acted like I'm still in a game or something. I should have spoken with you like how we have always did-"

"Don't worry about it, Onii-chan," Leafa turned down Kirito's words before he had even finished. Kirito had wanted to tell her he should have tried to reassure her, to restore some kind of familiarity between the two of them after that incident. That he was an idiot for once again letting himself be blinded into only seeing his own problems, and didn't think about what others he cared about might be going through. And after their heart-to-heart talk in the north side of Arrun, right before their combined efforts to storm the World Tree, Kirito felt this was especially unforgivable.

"If you're finished getting dressed, do you mind leaving the room so I can change, Onii-chan?" Leafa asked him dully. As dense as he was, even Kirito knew something was wrong with Leafa. But to his frustration, Kirito could not think of any way that he could possibly resolve the gap between the two of them right then. Yui, on his shoulder, looked alarmed at the situation and rapidly shifted her head and gaze from one sibling to the next like an avian of some kind.

"… Alright," Kirito said in a quiet voice, one that was tinged with his frustration and self-recrimination. Kirito turned around and opened the door, but before he exited he called back over his shoulder to Leafa: "But if you ever want to talk about anything, just ask me okay? I might be a useless brother, but I can do at least this much."

"You're not useless!" Leafa blurted out on reflex. Then, realizing how she had said her words in an outburst she lowered her face with embarrassment. "But okay, I'll do that if I need to talk."

Kirito nodded, and left the room. Once the door was shut Kirito's legs gave out on him and he sank down onto his posterior.

"Damn it…" Kirito muttered and smashed one fist on the floor. At the last second he remembered to hold back his strength so as not to punch a hole in the floor, so that particular action really didn't grant him any catharsis at all. From how Leafa had acted, Kirito thought it was likely she wouldn't come to him for any talks. The Spriggan felt thoroughly miserable, that in his drive to get back to Asuna he had hurt people around him – again. If it was just Leafa, no, Suguha, hating him than it would be fine, he could accept that if it will make Suguha feel better. But their situation was far messier than that.

"Is there any way I can help, Papa?" Yui asked worriedly from where she sat on Kirito's shoulder. "There has to be something I can do about this?"

Kirito remembered how Yui was supposed to be a Mental Health Counseling Program, so counselling was probably within her skillset. Nevertheless, Kirito merely brought up his hand and just patted the tiny girl's head carefully.

"Don't worry about it, Yui," Kirito said with a tired smile to his adopted daughter. "We just need time to sort all this out. Everything will turn out fine in the end, you'll see."

None of the two were fooled by Kirito's words, as lacking in confidence as they were.

-][-

How Kirito and others got to Sakuya that morning was a blur in his memory. By the time it registered to him that everything was ready, he was leaning on one side of the room and Sakuya began to access the Call GM function. It was only a small gathering of people, being Sakuya, Leafa, Yui and Kirito himself. Alicia had drawn the short straw and ended up the one dealing with administrative matters for the time being, instead of being the one to make this call. And for safety's sake, it was deemed better if the conversation to Titania was conducted privately, on the off chance there were things said that would not be good to have as public knowledge.

The ringing tone sounded out for a few tense moments, and Kirito took the chance to take a look at the options. 'Sound Only' to start with, as having a video call could only be done if both sides of the conversation agreed to it. There was also a filter with several options, such as only allowing the Faction Leader to hear the GM's words or for only the Faction Leader's words to pass through the channel. Right then none of the filters were active, as Sakuya deemed everyone present to be trustworthy. Then, the call finally connected with the other side.

"Hello? This is Nishida speaking. I'm the one delegated to taking calls and act as 'customer support' for the time being," a voice that sounded like it came from an old man began to speak.

"'Nishida'?" Sakuya asked with a frown, while Kirito stood up straight with wide eyes. "So the 'Fairy Queen Titania' won't be taking calls, even from the Faction Leaders? I am Sakuya, by the way. The current leader of the Sylphs."

"I'm delegated to this task by her, though I can relay anything you say to Titania-san if you want me to," Nishida replied. "For now though she said she doesn't want to be disturbed unless it's really important. I'm like a buffer to take care of anything that's limited to a single city while she's working on the things affecting the entirety of this Alfheim place. If it is just information you want I can access it for you, though any changes to a city will have to be approved by Titania-san it seems."

"Sakuya-san," Kirito asked urgently, stepping closer to the Sylph leader. "Do you mind if I talk to him myself? If this is who I think it is, I've met him before."

Sakuya raised one delicate eyebrow at Kirito's words in surprise, before nodding. "Nishida-san, do you mind if we activate the video function? I have a friend here that would like to speak with you. His name is Kirito, have you heard of him?"

"Kirito?" Nishida exclaimed in surprise. "Wait a moment, let me find the buttons to activate that…"

After a few seconds, a large rectangular screen popped up in mid-air, hovering in the air a few metres ahead of Sakuya. The screen then activated, showing a bald old man in a white-coloured mage's robe. The background behind him was as white as his clothing.

"… Is that really you, Kirito-kun?" Nishida asked in astonishment, looking at Kirito's clothing. "You look a bit different compared to when you and Asuna were going back to the Frontlines."

"And you look the same as you did back on Floor 22, apart from your ears," Kirito replied, taking note of Nishida's appearance. "What happened? How are you there on top of the World Tree? Is Asuna alright up there?"

"I'm not sure what has happened exactly, myself," Nishida admitted, glancing at the other people in the room with Kirito. "Long story short, I woke up after the announcement of SAO being cleared and found myself in some kind of lab building. About a few hundred other SAO players were with me, and the stronger players killed a few mobs that were in the room with us. Some girl that looked a lot like Asuna-kun showed up declaring herself as 'Titania', and wanted to know what happened-"

"'Looked a lot like Asuna'?" Kirito cut in urgently. "It's not actually her?"

"At least I hope not," Nishida sighed, showing no offense at being interrupted. "Titania-san doesn't remember anything about SAO, or even react when I said your name. She called herself an AI program too, so it's possible Titania-san isn't Asuna-kun. Hopefully the Asuna-kun you know is just somewhere up here in the World Tree in stasis, as opposed to something like being brainwashed into thinking she's someone else."

Kirito gritted his teeth at this unwelcome possibility. He didn't even consider that when he was finally back with Asuna the girl he loved wouldn't Asuna anymore.

"I'd like to return to an earlier point," Sakuya said in the silence. "Nishida-san, did you say other SAO players are up there on the World Tree?"

"That's right," Nishida confirmed. "Apart from me, there's another 298 players up here. They're hooked up to some kind of life support though, and I'm the only one still awake right now."

"Asleep? Life support?" Sakuya asked with a frown. "What do you mean?"

"Titania-san used some kind of magic to send everyone apart from me to sleep, because she didn't want to deal with them," Nishida explained with a disapproving expression. "According to Titania-san we're not supposed to be in this Alfheim Online, and so not her problem. The only reason why I'm not with them is because I have some experience with VR matters and she thought I might be able to help somehow. That reminds me, Sakuya-san, how are your people holding up down there? Would I be able to move the SAO players down to where you are for you to take care of?"

"The food supplies we have gathered at this point will be to feed the players here, though I am not sure we would be able to feed even more people in the long run," Sakuya admitted. "This is even with the various cooking ingredients and food items we have that are donated from other players. One of the first things when we need to negotiate with the locals in the near future would be how to obtain some more food supplies for us."

"I see," Nishida nodded. "I can't impose any more on you people if you cannot support more mouths to feed. The players up here will survive in their current conditions, even if it's not ideal. At least we have that much."

"How do you plan on getting them down from the World Tree anyway?" Kirito asked. "There's a forcefield around the upper area of the World Tree, so even if you have learned how to work your wings I don't think you can just fly down. Do you have a way to unlock that?"

"No, I don't," Nishida said to Kirito. "I was planning on asking Titania-san to just let us go, it'll be one less thing she has to worry about up here. She seemed stressed as it is with how things are playing out. I think she's taking the situation of us all possibly being real a bit hard."

"… Would I be able to speak with her? Titania, I mean." Kirito asked quietly.

"I don't think so," Nishida shook his head. "She told me she doesn't want to be disturbed unless it's a matter of crucial importance. Do you have something like that?"

"How about the fact we have some idea who was responsible for getting the ALO players and cities into this situation?" Kirito questioned. If there was anything Kirito had that could get him a meeting that was probably it. "Or does she already know who it was that had done this, and how we got here?"

"I don't think so… but then again, Titania-san is not someone who confides in me about everything," Nishida said thoughtfully. "This might be enough to get a meeting with her. Do you people mind waiting for a moment while I go ask her?"

"Please do," Sakuya nodded, and the screen turned grey with a 'Stand By' message on it.

For a few moments, Kirito and others in the room waited anxiously for the response from the top of the World Tree. Then, after what seemed like an hour to Kirito but was probably only a few minutes at most, the screen once again activated. This time, one of the filters on Nishida's end has been toggled, to only pass on his voice on his side of the conversation. The background behind Nishida had also been changed, into a simple green and brown décor that reminded the players of a tree house.

"Titania-san agreed to a meeting, Kirito-kun," Nishida said with a small smile, which was reflected on Kirito's relieved face. "She feels it would be best to meet with you face-to-face with a matter like this – and that there's a one hour long time limit per call on the Call GM function. Due to some… technical issues, one can call them, we won't be bringing you through the Entrance Chamber; the door there has some issues needing to be reprogrammed. If you can fly up around the barrier that surrounds the World Tree, Titania can open up a small section on the north side for you to pass through. I'll escort you from there onwards."

"Thank you," Kirito said, and tried not to lose himself in the relief of coming within reach of his goal. At long last, he could reach the top of the World Tree and find out what had happened to Asuna.

"Can I please come along with Onii- Kirito-kun?" Leafa asked hesitantly. "I am a bit worried if he goes up by himself…"

"Leafa, that's-" Kirito had wanted to tell her that's not necessary, but then stopped. Even if he wants to meet up with this Titania person, who may or may not be his Asuna, with just himself and Yui, he acknowledged Leafa has helped him get here and as his sister maybe Leafa deserved to come along.

Nishida was about to reply, then paused. The old man shifted his head to look at – or rather, listen to – someone outside what the screen showed, and then looked back at Sakuya.

"Titania-san has said she'll speak privately with Kirito-kun, and he's allowed to bring one or two people," Nishida passed on the message. "They'll have to wait outside the meeting room, however. And for fairness' sake, Kirito-kun can't bring along a Faction Leader; Titania-san doesn't want to appear like she's playing favourites among the current leaders."

"I don't think myself or Alicia has enough time to go along anyway, to be honest," Sakuya sighed. "Even with two of us, it's a heavy workload to try and take care of the city with the current conditions. Pass on our greetings to Titania-san, would you Kirito-kun?"

"Will do," Kirito nodded in acknowledgement, then asked: "So when would be a good time to head up there, Nishida-san?"

"Right now is good, if you're available," Nishida said with a sideway glance, presumably towards Titania. "Just give us some time to adjust the barrier."

"I'll be on my way, then," Kirito spoke with a quick nod to Sakuya and Nishida, heading to the door without bothering for Sakuya and Nishida to finish the remainder of their talk. Leafa hastily followed after him, with Yui already having jumped back inside her adopted father's pockets in waiting for the trip.

-][-

"I must admit, this was not what I had expected the insides of the city on top of the World Tree to look like…" Kirito murmured. Next to him, Leafa nodded tensely. The source for her nervousness, and to a lesser extent Kirito's, was walking along next to them:

Multiple World Tree Guardians. Two of those golems had accompanied Nishida when he went out to meet with Kirito, and four more had followed them as the group made their way to where Titania was waiting for them. Even if Kirito was confident he could cut down all these Guardians within seconds, it was still slightly unnerving that mobs he had fought just yesterday were this close to him.

"According to Titania-san, the developers never got around to making the Alf Capital," Nishida explained. "As for why that was the case, I have no idea. Titania-san has been doing some experiments to change it however, as part of her tests on the limits of the modification capabilities we have available."

As they walked through the corridors, eventually the décor had shifted from the sterile white of a lab to a brown and green like that of a tree. Intricate designs covered the walls, with the hexagonal panels that spawned the World Tree Guardians tastefully blended into the designs. Eventually, they reached a pair of large wooden doors, no less convolutedly carved than the walls around them.

"Only Kirito-kun may continue on from here, unfortunately," Nishida told the two siblings. "If you wish, Leafa-kun, you can go have a look at the experiments Titania-san has developed near the top of the World Tree while you wait for Kirito-kun to be finished. There will at least be food and water there, though I cannot guarantee the food being adequate for satisfying your hunger. Two of these Guardians will guide you to places you wish to go to in here, and keep you away from places you shouldn't enter for safety reasons. I will be returning to the control room shortly to take a look at the reports about the Everdark area, so excuse me for not being able to stay."

"That's alright, Nishida-san," Leafa replied. "I will be fine by myself, don't worry."

That last comment was directed as much to Nishida as it was to Kirito. The Spriggan swallowed his words of concern for his sister in all but blood, and nodded.

"Alright, I'll be going in then," Kirito said instead. "I'll see you two later."

Kirito began to push at the large wooden doors, and entered. The doors closed with a clear thud after Kirito had moved inside the room.

Upon entering the meeting room, Kirito's attention was immediately seized by the person that stood ahead of him, on a raised dais and in front of the throne upon the platform. The person was, from Kirito's perspective, a breathtakingly beautiful young woman; she was dressed an ornate white gown that came down to below her knees, trimmed with red at the edges. The woman had long chestnut-coloured hair, and while her dress did not show much skin there was no doubt of her femininity, with the curves of her body apparent despite being covered. Behind her was a pair of wings, larger those on any other faerie Kirito had come across. She had a small, intricately designed silver circlet placed on her head, and wielded an elaborate sceptre in her right hand. Her solemn expression, combined with her garb, made her appear regal, not merely strict or authoritative.

Without a doubt, Kirito thought the person in front of him was Asuna, despite differences such as the clothing being worn or the expression on her face. Kirito's heart soared, and with a smile on his face he almost called out Asuna's name in relief.

"We already know each other's names, so I'll skip the pleasantries and get to the point."

However, Kirito's mood plummeted with Asuna's next words.

"Tell me – who are you?"

-][-

"Who are you?"

Titania asked the Spriggan in front of her. To the Fairy Queen, the black-haired youth was a representation of something that was wrong within her. Titania, with all her knowledge and memories, had no recollection of the name or appearance of this 'Kirito'. Yet, after hearing his voice in the call earlier that day, and seeing him in person now, Titania felt like she _should _recognize him. It was a familiarity that should not have been present, but there it was.

"Are you one of the GMs of Alfheim Online?" Titania went on to ask. "I can tell that the Private Pixie you have with you here is not a standard one, even after the incident which changed ALO. I can also sense you hold a piece of the administrator consoles, and it is from one of the consoles here on the World Tree if I am not mistaken-"

"You…"

Titania paused in her questioning, seeing the young man – Kirito – began to speak. From her limited knowledge about human behaviour, Titania thought his expression was strange. The way his mouth had opened and his body movement when he entered the room had suggested he was… glad?… to see her, but then his face stiffened, his eyes widened, and his jaw slowly went slack. Titania thought this expression was called 'disbelief', but she had no idea why Kirito would behave in such a way when asked such questions.

"Do you… do you really not remember who I am?" Kirito asked hoarsely. The young man's entire body shook, and he seemed to be trying to not hyperventilate.

"I do not have a list of all the RECTO staff members involved with Alfheim Online," Titania told him with a frown. She thought there was something abnormal with his word usage too – 'remember', and not 'recognize'? "Nor do I have the list of GM accounts within this VRMMORPG. So no, even if you are recorded within the system I would not be able to recognize you."

"But…" Kirito took a deep breath, and then asked: "You're Asuna… right…?"

Titania's frown deepened. Here was another person that called her by the name of 'Asuna', like the SAO players had. Titania's reasoning that the only reason she would feel Kirito to be familiar was if he was one of the ALO staff had been proven false, it seemed to her.

"If you are calling me by that name, you are probably related in some way to the other Sword Art Online players that have somehow appeared here on the World Tree," Titania said slowly. "But as I have said to others already, no, I am not this 'Asuna' you speak of. I am Titania, 'Fairy Queen' by game lore, and the current GM – of sorts – of Alfheim Online.

"But that is not important right now. What I want to know is, how do you have an administrator console access card? Just because you are from Sword Art Online should not mean you have access to the Alfheim Online systems. The two games are not connected, correct?"

"That is not exactly the case," a small, clear voice popped up. The Private Pixie that Titania had been sensed earlier flew out from one of Kirito's pockets, and landed onto his shoulder. "The ALO game is based on a copy of the SAO programs, with for example the framework and graphic format being the same. However, the Cardinal program is one of the older versions when compared to the one used by SAO."

"Yui here used to be the mental healthcare program back in SAO," Kirito explained, answering the question Titania was about to voice. "Due to acting against restrictions she was about to be deleted, and I barely managed to move her files into my NervGear before that happened."

"That is… hard to believe," Titania said finally, looking at the tiny girl. "And that connection alone does not explain how you have an access card."

"It's a long story – do you have time for it right now?" Kirito asked Titania, looking at her intently.

"I can make time for this; this seems to be important enough for me to justify doing so," Titania replied. If she could get to the bottom of her strange feelings in regards to the player in front of her, then it would be worth the time taken. Titania wouldn't know what to do if she herself was flawed in some way – there was nothing here on the World Tree that can debug her if she had somehow been damaged. And the current self-imposed GM of ALO could not afford any possible issues with herself right now. "While you are at it, maybe you can explain as well what you have said back in the call with Nishida, about how Alfheim Online have been reduced to this state."

Kirito then began to recount his tale, of how after SAO was cleared more players did not wake up. The girl named 'Asuna' was one of them, and even as inexperienced as Titania was about human emotions she could tell Kirito cared about this 'Asuna' a great deal, he was anguished about her condition. Then, a picture of Asuna was found, supposedly from the top of the World Tree. Kirito then spoke of the journey that brought him, Yui, and his ally Leafa, to Arrun and the World Tree, and the events that came after. As for how Kirito came to be in possession of the access card, it dropped down from the World Tree after Yui had detected Asuna's Player ID; the events that occurred after the incident, of what happened at the Academy and of a 'Louise Valliere' that could be the key to the solution of all this, was also explained thoroughly.

For a few long moments afterwards, Titania pondered these pieces of information. Objectively speaking, to Titania Kirito's words were fantastical, out-of-this-world. Then again, unexplainable things such as the ability to feel pain and limited access to the system coding had been happening for some time, so Titania decided she might as well take Kirito's words as a temporary explanation until it could be disproven. Titania also dearly hoped that she was not influenced by an almost instinctive urge from within her to believe in Kirito's words – something inexplicable about Kirito's manner of speech and posture seemed to resonate with her, making her more willing to trust him. It was without reason, this belief that Kirito was not telling lies. Titania felt she needs to have some way to know for sure what Kirito was saying was true, and that was what motivated her next move:

"Yui, was it? Can you provide proof that Kirito here is telling the truth?"

"Um… what do you mean by that?" Yui asked hesitantly. "I mean, I can give my word Papa isn't lying, but I don't think that is what you are after."

"That is correct," Titania nodded. "Even if you are not SAO-MHCP-001 as Kirito is claiming, you are close enough to a Private Pixie for me to be able to access your memory data. I would like to see for myself whether your records match his words."

Yui looked nervously at Kirito, and after his supportive nod back to her Yui agreed to this suggestion. "Alright, I'll do it."

"A fair warning however, should your version of events have discrepancies I will have the both of you removed from the World Tree," Titania told them. "And the same thing will be done if Yui here attempt to influence my mental procedures. Do you two understand?"

"Yes," both Yui and Kirito replied. Yui then took flight towards where Titania had held her right hand out, landing on her palm. The two females within the room looked each other's eyes, and established a connection.

-][-

Kirito admitted he was half expecting some kind of glow, or some sign that that showed an exchange of information was happening. Instead, Yui and Asu- _Titania_ were only looking at each other intently. Kirito was anxious at how this might develop, and didn't take his eyes off of the two in front of him.

Inside of Kirito, his heart felt like it would burst from the raw emotions he was feeling. Kirito felt like a vice was squeezing his heart, which was beating just as fast as when he fought Floor Bosses back in Aincrad. He wondered, just what exactly was going on if the person in front of him was not Asuna?

After a minute of silence, Titania finally spoke:

"MHCP-001's – Yui's memory data matches your words, Kirito," Titania admitted, breaking eye contact with Yui. This tiny girl dropped down into a sitting position on Titania's palm, and trembled as if in exhaustion. "Additionally, after this exchange of information I believe I have a rough idea of where your Asuna might be."

"Really?" Kirito inhaled sharply, and forced himself to calm down. His voice was filled with longing, with desperation, and Kirito did not bother hiding those emotions. "Where?"

"Somewhere in here," Titania placed her left hand over her heart. "As I have mentioned in yesterday's System Announcement, Alfheim Online's servers was under attack. The situation was so severe the Cardinal program have decided it needed to redirect as much processing power as it could to counter this threat, and so Cardinal activated some of its old GM AIs. Myself, 'Fairy Queen Titania', was the one activated due to the circumstances."

"How does this have anything to do with Asuna?" Kirito asked, before realization hit him. "Wait, you don't mean…"

"Someone within RECTO had cannibalized the 'Fairy King Oberon' and Titania AIs into GM accounts," Titania explained, disdain clear in her voice at the person that couldn't be bothered in creating his own characters from scratch. "I do not know how it happened, but Asuna was occupying the Titania account within ALO. I believe her consciousness was muddled with mine during the reactivation of my consciousness, and this was only further complicated by that incident which changed Alfheim Online. This would explain my current appearances, and why I seem to recognize you despite having never met you."

"Then… you're…"

"I am not Asuna," Titania said immediately, with no room for argument. Both Kirito, and Yui on top of Titania's palm, flinched at that announcement. "However…" Titania said in a softer voice. "It does not mean the Asuna you know is gone for good. Upon introspection, it is highly likely Asuna's consciousness is still intact inside me in some way, and not just her memories. If I have time, I may be able to separate her from myself completely, and let her have control over this body once more."

Kirito felt relief flood his entire body. The Spriggan was about to be crushed by despair at the thought that Asuna had been damaged, but if what Titania have said was true then he had nothing to worry about.

"Unfortunately, I do not plan on relinquishing this body any time soon."

With that, Kirito's relief was dispelled instantly and cold fear beginning to gnaw from inside of him. "Excuse me?"

"As limited as a physical body of flesh and blood can be, this is all I have right now," Titania said bluntly. "And with the current state of Alfheim Online right now, I need this body to be able to function and implement necessary changes for the sake of Alfheim's players. I would not go against my programming to put the needs of a few over that of the rest of the players, so you will have to wait until the current situation stabilizes until I am willing to return Asuna's body to her."

"… And how long is that likely to take?" Kirito asked, trying not to show resentfulness in his voice. He could understand Titania's viewpoint and that the ALO players would likely need the GM to be functional, but that did not change how Asuna would be stuck inside of Titania in limbo.

"Ensuring the coding, or the equivalent of it, in this new situation is working adequately would at most take another few days," Titania replied. "Then there is also testing the various functions available to me as GM and how useful they are, which may take a week or two to be fully complete. The largest factor however, would be to ensure the safety and welfare of the players. The mobs are out of Cardinal's, and my own, influence, and they have been attacking settlements. I do not know the extent of the damages the local people not of Alfheim have taken, but the southeast side of Alfheim territory is in trouble: Everdark's mountain surface is overrun by hostile wyvern hordes, and Sand Beasts are attempting to devour entire villages within the Desert Area. Additionally, the more powerful mobs of the Ancient Forest have somehow dispersed into various forests all across the realm, so nowhere is safe from these kinds of creatures as they may forage out of their territory for food.

"Those are only the immediate problems. In the medium term, I have no idea how to feed the over sixty thousand players in this current situation, at least not efficiently; though thankfully, on the matter of dealing with excrement I have made _some_ progress. And then there are the diplomacy issue you have brought up with the local leadership. We do not need things to degenerate into a war right now, especially with everything else that has been happening; it is a complication that would not help us in the long run."

Kirito stayed silent throughout Titania's tirade about the problems that confronts them, and with every topic his stomach felt like it had sunk even further. Titania herself looked to be at least mildly frustrated at the efforts needed to complete her potential workload.

"In short, all this would likely take months to resolve," Titania concluded. Seeing Kirito's expression at this news, Titania replied sourly: "If it was possible for me to operate without a physical body, I would restore Asuna and return her to you immediately. Her attachment to you is affecting my judgment – even if it is within acceptable errors at the moment – and the efforts needed to maintain this body are irritating. I find it unpleasant, how I need nourishment in order to operate and take time to deal with excrements. How do you players cope with the inefficiency of not being in Virtual Reality all the time?"

"We're used to it, I guess," Kirito said, his mind taking note of how Asuna's capability to influence Titania somehow. He was hoping that meant Asuna would be able to reassert control over her body, at least more than she had right then. "But you _are_ taking good care of yourself, right?"

"As part of the necessary steps to keep this body functionally at optimal levels, yes," Titania scowled. "As inefficient as it is for me to take time away from working with the administrator consoles, I cannot afford to have this body fall into disrepair. Even if I somehow spawn a new physical body, I am not sure transferring consciousness can be achieved with the current level of tools available to me."

"I don't mean to doubt you, but…" Kirito hesitantly began to say. "Would it be alright if I could visit regularly and check up on you? I am worried about Asuna's wellbeing and want to make sure that when she does return her body will be fine."

"And I find your concern for the wellbeing of myself and my continued capability to function for the good of Alfheim emotionally touching," Titania said with a raised eyebrow. "It is like your attachment to Asuna has blinded you to the bigger picture."

Kirito could not respond to that accusation. Not when Kirito could have indeed ignored everything else in his concern for Asuna. Just like prior to the Floor 75 boss battle when Kirito had suggested running away with Asuna, Kirito's priority was only the safety of the people he loved. As for other people, Kirito was willing to let them find a way to deal with it somehow, as long as it was not a situation that desperately needed his skills. His attitude sickened himself somewhat, but Kirito had been a Solo-Player for a long time and he accepted that part of himself. Kirito fervently prayed that he would not have to see just how far he would go, just who and what he would abandon if it meant he could be with Asuna once more. He was afraid of what depths he would sink to for the sake of his beloved.

"Then again, this attachment could become useful for me…" Titania mused, thinking aloud. The way the Fairy Queen lapsed into a thoughtful expression was so similar to what Kirito was used to seeing on Asuna it stabbed at his heart. "I could use a fighter loyal to me, even if the loyalty is by proxy. Tell me, Kirito, are you willing to make a deal with me?"

"What do you have in mind?" Kirito asked warily.

"Just like how the countless World Tree Guardians are my Sword, my military resource that I can use against others if absolutely necessary, I would like you to be my Shield," Titania stated. "I want you to be my protector, my guard; someone that can ensure my safety and continued efforts to help Alfheim Online. Immortal Object coding on flesh and blood creatures is unreliable at best right now, and with the recent Incident I believe it would be prudent to have a player in my employ than can react to any unexpected issues competently. In exchange for your services, you will have access to the non-restricted areas of the World Tree, and a direct communication channel to me. How does this sound?"

Kirito mulled over Titania's offer. On one hand, it allows him to be able to regularly visit Titania and see if he could get Asuna back into being in control. On the other hand, he had no idea what this role might have him do. As Heathcliff has demonstrated, even shields could be used to harm others. If Kirito could help it, he would not want to hurt others badly for the sake of getting Asuna back.

"Am I right to assume this is just a bodyguard role?" Kirito asked.

"And being a spokesperson for me outside of the World Tree," Titania added. "I do not plan on leaving the World Tree, not when I have so many things to do. There may be other roles I might need you to take on, such as reconnaissance of an area, fetching an item for me, and so on if the need arise. Rest assured, I will not force you to do anything you do not want to, but depending on the circumstances of your refusal I may remove you from your position."

Kirito went silent. Ultimately, it came down to whether he trusted Titania to not abuse the leverage of having access to Asuna over him or not. Weighed against the possibility of getting Asuna back however, Kirito only had one option to choose. It simply hurt too much for Kirito to willingly discard such a way to restore Asuna without an obvious sign that Titania would not be true to her word.

"I accept – on one condition," Kirito finally said.

"And this condition is…?" Titania prompted him.

"When this 'current situation stabilizes' as you say, you return control of Asuna back to her," Kirito said seriously. "Mobs can be killed, the locals can be reasoned with, and the players of ALO can elect their own leaders to make decisions. I want you to lay the groundwork towards creating a situation where it is not necessary for a GM to be in active control in order for Alfheim to function. For all I know you could plan on staying as GM for as long as possible, and I refuse to work indefinitely only for the slim hope that I will get Asuna back one day."

"Reasonable concerns," Titania allowed. "Very well, I will include a clear-cut condition for Asuna's release: If the nine Faction Leaders unanimously vote for the GM to cease implementing changes, that they are satisfied with their current state at the time and do not want further changes on my part, I will return control of this body to Asuna. Though likewise, if all nine leaders wish for me to be reactivated then you cannot stop them. Is this good enough? We can negotiate further later on, and any conditions both of us agree to can be added to this list."

"… That is acceptable," Kirito agreed. Getting all nine Faction Leaders to listen to him would be hard, but at least it was a concrete goal that wasn't as vague as 'when the ALO players don't need me any more'.

"Very good," Titania said with a small smile. "Though before I modify your Medallion to include the benefits of your new role, I would like to see first-hand your capability."

"And how can I show that?" Kirito asked warily. Only now did Kirito pay attention to his surroundings, as he had been too preoccupied with the interaction between him and Titania earlier. The black-haired youth stood in the centre of a large round room with no corners, the floor being a circle approximately twenty metres in diameter. The dome-shaped ceiling above him had crystal panes at places to allow natural light into the room. Below him, Kirito stood on some kind of crest on the floor, a stylized depiction of the World Tree within a circle. The crest was within a larger circle, and surrounding that were nine smaller circles with even distance between them all.

To the sides of this room however were the most attention-grabbing pieces of this room. World Tree Guardians were stationed around the perimeter of the room, with a golem in white armour placed every few steps. Most of the Guardians were equipped with swords, the large claymores Kirito had seen them used against him just yesterday. Now however those blades were pointed down, resting against the ground in front of the statuesque Guardians. The Guardians that did not have a sword wielded bows instead, and the number of the archer-type Guardians are roughly a quarter of the total amount of Guardians. In the unlikely event that Kirito showed hostile intentions, he would have been mobbed by the Guardians.

Without warning, one of the World Tree Guardians standing at the edge of the throne room rushed in towards Kirito, its claymore poised to run the Spriggan through. Kirito quickly stepped out of the way of the attack, only for a second Guardian to fly down upon him from the side trying to bisect him with a slash. Kirito unsheathed his greatsword, and parried the blow while activating his own wings.

"Show me, Black Swordsman, that you are capable enough to protect me," Titania said as Kirito took flight, and the two World Tree Guardians continued to try and deal a fatal wound to Kirito as they flew around this room. "If you cannot even defeat these opponents that are attacking you, then I have no need for you."

"Papa!" Yui shouted from on top of Titania's palm, anxious for the wellbeing of her adopted father. The tiny Pixie knew that even if she tried to jump in she wouldn't be able help Kirito fight, and so she stayed where she was. However, that didn't mean Yui couldn't help in other ways. "Be careful! Those two aren't the only ones you have to fight!"

Kirito spared a quick glance at Yui, before he suddenly dodged to the side. While he had done so many times already within the last half a minute to avoid being hit, this time it was not to avoid a sword strike but an arrow. A third Guardian on the ground had activated its bow, and began shooting at the black-clad faerie. Kirito cursed as a few arrows managed to come close to hitting him, leaving scratches on his coat and skin. The purpose of the arrows was as much trying to land a lethal blow to the Spriggan as restricting his movements, however, forcing Kirito to fly into the path of the other two sword-wielding Guardians.

As much as Kirito wanted to deal with this nuisance however, he would have to get past the two sword-wielding Guardians first as they pressured him with their movements. Even if Kirito had superior speed compared to them, the room wasn't open enough for him to take full advantage of it. One of the Guardans would try to keep Kirito's weapon occupied, while the other would come from a different direction to attack Kirito.

The Guardians fighting him were not like the ones from the Entrance Chamber, where their movements were simple but made up for by the bulk of their numbers; these were advanced fighters, reminding Kirito of mobs such as the lizardmen from Floor 74 of Aincrad. The kind of mobs that judged and learned from combat with their opponent, becoming more dangerous as the fight continued. Indeed, Kirito was beginning to feel like he was being slowly cornered into defeat, with how his flight patterns were beginning to be predicted and their attacks are becoming more accurate. Kirito's _modus operandi_ back in Aincrad against such opponents was to create situations where he could fight one on one with them, making sure he would not be overwhelmed. Nevertheless, now he was being forced to fight three opponents of that level simultaneously.

Kirito's coat was only made of low level material, and it had started to become more and more tattered as the fight continued. The Spriggan's muscles began to burn, though Kirito didn't know whether this was from the effort of parrying the Guardians' blades, from the cuts he had been receiving from arrows' near misses, or from the Battle Healing he activated but may or may not been working after the incident which affected ALO. In spite of this predicament however, Kirito was not giving up. With a roar, the 'Black Swordsman' flew at one of the Guardians, instead of passively waiting to be attacked. Both sides readied their postures in the seconds before collision.

"Gah, ha!"

Kirito gasped as pain erupted from his right thigh. It was expected, really, that he would take a hit from the archer-type Guardian when his movement became as simple as charging in a straight line. Nonetheless, Kirito decided he needed to take some risks if he wanted to be able to pass the trial, to show Titania he was someone worthy of staying by Asuna's side. The young man ignored the pain as much as he could, mostly through the adrenalin rush of combat, and continued on. Kirito swung his blade even as the Guardian in front of him did the same, and the second Guardian flew behind him, waiting to finish off Kirito when his blade was occupied.

Kirito's blade collided with the first Guardian's, and sparks flew from the contact. However, Kirito did not try to force his blade past the Guardian's own, and opted instead to fly to the side immediately after the contact. The Guardian was caught off guard by Kirito's sudden movement, and was cut apart by a slash that went upwards from the side. Following up with the turning movement, Kirito launched a vertical slash down against the remaining sword-wielding Guardian that was flying at him from behind. The blow was parried by the Guardian, but the golem did not have the speed to avoid Kirito's second slash that came after. The strength behind the blow caved in the golem's armour, and it too fell to pieces. 'Vertical Square', one of Kirito's sword skills he picked up from back in Aincrad, was executed well enough to dismantle the two close combat attackers within less than half a dozen seconds.

In Kirito's moment of relief that the two Guardians were gone – or it may have been more accurate to say his body was faithfully reproducing the motions of a Sword Skill, including the stiffness the player falls into after executing one of those attacks – Kirito was open to another attack. Another energy arrow came flying towards Kirito, which would have pierced right through his heart if it had hit its intended target. Kirito dodged with only an instant to spare, and the arrow impacted onto his left shoulder instead. Snarling in pain, Kirito looked down at the remaining combatant he had to defeat in this trial.

Then, Kirito rushed down at his final foe. More arrows were fired at Kirito, but they were deflected by the large greatsword he was wielding. The arrows of light that struck Kirito had dissipated after impact, so the wounds did not impede Kirito's movement too much. An instant later, Kirito had reached the final Guardian and his sword bisected the golem.

Breathing heavily, Kirito then looked towards Titania and asked: "So, did I meet your expectations?"

-][-

"You have performed… adequately," Titania allowed herself to say, her face not showing the full extent of her astonishment. From what Titania have found out so far, it was possible to feel pain in the new environment. However Kirito's strength of will was enough that he could ignore the pain and fight on to an extent. Even after the fight with two hole punched into his body which were dripping with blood and a dozen minor cuts here and there, Kirito stood in front of her with the only signs of pain being his gritted teeth and a slight swaying to his stance. "Here, let me heal you."

Titania's body glowed with warm white light, and a moment later so did Kirito. A few seconds after that, Kirito's wounds had all disappeared, though his clothing was still as tattered as before. Yui flew off immediately after Kirito have finished healing, and circled around the Spriggan to make sure he was alright. In the time that Kirito took to sheath his sword, examine the extent of the healing down to him and assure Yui he was fine, Titania thought a bit more about Kirito's performance during the fight.

The Fairy Queen originally had wanted Kirito as her guard because of safety issues; if Titania somehow was damaged or indisposed, Alfheim would be left without a GM. Titania could not risk that happening, and with the situation as it was now she was unsure whether the system had the capability to ensure her survival. The coding of the game was not as absolute as it was before the incident, meaning if players or the locals wanted to sneak in it may be possible to do so. Thus, it would be prudent to have a guard working for Titania. Or at least that was the logic Titania believed that led to her decision, as it was more believable than just a strong impulse that with this particular Spriggan around she would be safe no matter what.

Titania's plan to evaluate Kirito's competence was to have Kirito be reduced into a Remain Light, revive him, and see how he coped with being on the verge of death. Tiania had thought it was likely that if it ever came down to a fight to defend her Kirito would not survive unharmed, and she wanted to know if Kirito would be the kind of person that broke under that kind of pressure. She had greatly underestimated Kirito's ability however, it was something beyond just stats and numbers. The SAO veterans were more skilled than Titania had thought, and while that was an advantage in terms of having an ally of such calibre, it also meant if Kirito ever chose to rebel against Titania it might have a high chance of succeeding.

Taking into account Yui's memory of Kirito cutting down many World Tree Guardians in his last attempt at the Grand Quest, Titania thought there was no guarantee her forces would be enough to stop him if he did decide to go rogue. The programming Titania had used for the particular Guardians Kirito had just fought had been adjusted to rely more on the individual unit's skill instead of relying on superior numbers to defeat their opponent, yet they still failed in defeating the Spriggan. Titania would need to have some other trump cards hidden up her sleeves if she wanted to make sure, even in the worst case scenario, that she could triumph.

"So, did I get the job?" Kirito's question broke Titania out of her thoughts. The dark eyes of the Spriggan, filled with questions and emotions that Titania could not decipher completely, looked into Titania's brown ones.

"You did," Titania nodded, then stepped off of the platform that she stood on and approached him. "Your Medallion, please. I will make the changes to it now."

Kirito hastily materialized his Medallion, which Titania reached forward to grasp with both hands. Having linked up mentally to the administrator consoles, Titania had limited access to the powers of a GM even when not in the immediate vicinity of the machines. With a thought from Titania the Medallion began to grow, until it was roughly the same size as the kind held by other Faction Leaders. Titania took a moment to check over her handiwork, to see if the transformation had been performed properly, when Kirito's arms came up. The arms froze when Titania raised her face up and away from the Medallion, and looked into Kirito's face. It was only then that Titania realized she was standing within Kirito's reach, and he had – involuntarily, it seemed – took one step closer and tried to embrace her before his mind caught up with his actions. The two of them stood there, face to face, with Kirito having his arms awkwardly raised around Titania but not touching her. Yui, from where she sat, swivelled her head back and forth between the two of them, taking into account their situation. Kirito's face was one twisted in longing and shame, while Titania's face showed merely a questioning look.

"–Sorry," Kirito finally said, and lowered his arms. His voice sounded wistful, though Titania could not tell with certainty with her meagre experience in dealing with others. "I… I apologise. Being so close to Asuna right now, yet at the same time feeling so far away, has addled my senses. I mean no disrespect with this, Titania."

"Just make sure this does not happen again," Titania said with disinterest as she stepped back a bit to put some space between the two of them. "It would not do for my Royal Protector to be struck down by the anti-harassment code, it would reflect on me being a faulty judge of character. That would impact my ability to be able to negotiate with the Faction Leaders without having to resort to force, and would only prolong the time before I deem the situation stable enough for Asuna to be returned to you."

"I understand," Kirito replied, clenching his hands into fists tightly at the thought.

"Now that we have finished with the bare essentials of establishing your rank, I would like to attempt something," Titania went on. "From my exchange with Yui I have found that your stats carried over from Sword Art Online, but your items have been corrupted as there are no equivalents of them within Alfheim Online. I would like to experiment in being able to bring forward those items from the SAO server records, as some of the items within Yui's memory looks to be useful if they can be implemented into the current situation – such as the teleporting crystals. If nothing else, you would need a new sword and coat to replace the ones damaged from your last battle."

Kirito looked down at his ragged state of clothing, and blushed slightly in embarrassment. His sword was also visibly chipped at a few places because of how it smashed against the World Tree Guardians' blades. As expected from only middle tier items, really.

"Yui, would you mind helping me in this endeavour? I believe I would need your previous experience with the SAO servers to be able to achieve this," Titania asked.

"… Yes, of course," Yui replied weakly. For reasons Titania could not fathom, Yui had looked dejected to some degree ever since she had exchanged information with her. Still, finding out why the Mental Health Counseling Program was acting like this was not Titania's problem, and so she ignored it.

Yui flew onto Titania's palm again, and they both concentrated. The feeling of accessing the records of SAO servers was different to how Titania accessed knowledge within Alfheim Online, a floating sensation, as she was trying to reach out and grab hold of a forgotten dream. Images of an airborne castle and countless different bladed weapons flashed past Titania's mind, before Yui had located the data she was looking for - Kirito's character data as of the time SAO have ended. From there, it was Titania's role to give shape once more to these remnants of the past. Kirito gasped as the glowing image of a sword began to take shape in Titania's free hand, and slowly solidified into a metal blade.

"'The Elucidator', I believe this was called," Titania spoke in a strained voice, barely able to keep the sword upright in her hand. She had greatly underestimated the weight of this black sword, though Titania should have expected it when she saw Kirito carrying around a large slab of metal nearly as tall as he was. "This was the weapon you were using when you cleared Sword Art Online, correct?"

"Yes, it was," Kirito said with a small smile, like he had just been reunited with an old friend, and stepped closer to take the sword off of Titania's hand. "I'd been using this for twenty-five Floors up in Aincrad; a third of all Floors the Frontliners cleared in the game. I hadn't expected to see this again."

"Take good care of it then, and use it to protect me as well as it had protected you back in Sword Art Online," Titania said imperiously. "I expect you to be at the best you can be with the equipment you are long-accustomed to."

Kirito's smile turned bitter, his eyes clouding over as he recalled some unpleasant memories. "Don't worry; I will protect you even better than I had done for myself. I swear I will not let you be harmed, no matter what kind of pain I will have to go through."

Titania did not see Kirito's expression, as she was focusing on remaking a coat of some kind. So Titania merely nodded at his promise to protect her. Moments later, a black coat studded with some unknown metal came into being, held up loosely by Titania.

"A 'Black Wyrm Coat', enhanced to the best it can be by a skilled seamstress," Titania noted. "Impressive workmanship, I must say. And if Aincrad's dragons are anything like the Alfheim ones, dragon-leather would provide high quality defence for its weight class. This does not look that bad, either."

"I'm glad we agree on that part," Kirito said, taking off his tattered coat to show he had a black shirt and pants on underneath. The Spriggan put the higher tiered items on, and sheathed his trusted black sword on the clips at the back. Looking at the battered greatsword he now held in his hand before trying to sheath it as well, Kirito asked hesitantly: "Um… I know it's a long shot, but can you please see if my other sword is still back in SAO servers? A white one-handed sword named 'Dark Repulsor'."

"You wielded two swords at once?" Titania asked with curiosity. Memories from Yui then showed Kirito's skill with this style of fighting, mowing down a Salamander who wielded the legendary sword Gram and cutting through hundreds of her own World Tree Guardians when Kirito attempted the Grand Quest. "Very well, I will take a look… No, it doesn't seem to be here."

"I figured as much," Kirito sighed. At Titania's questioning gaze, Kirito explained: "The Dark Repulsor was a sword on par with the Elucidator, though that one broke when I fought in the final battle against Heathcliff. I mostly wanted it back for sentimental value – I've had that sword for a long time as well, and I guess I owe it to the swordsmith who made and improved that sword for me to make some effort to try and salvage it if possible."

"I am sure there would be another high tiered sword in Alfheim that can match your favoured blade," Titania stated confidently. Even if Alfheim Online was a game focused on flight and magic, it didn't lack in high quality melee weapons. Kirito would be able to trade for one somewhere, even in the current situation… probably. "If necessary I can spawn one for you, but for now I think I will spend my efforts on creating a set of formal armour for you instead."

"'Formal armour'?" Kirito said with some confusion.

"If you are going to be my representative of sorts, I expect you to be properly dressed for occasions such as the meeting between Faction Leaders," Titania said as if it was obvious. "Your current coat is adequate for combat purposes, but it is unimpressive in appearance. And in negotiations, appearances can matter a great deal."

"… Please tell me you're not going to try and get me into one of those white and red uniforms," Kirito said with some aversion. "Honestly, I prefer black clothing."

"… Red and white do not suit you, I will admit," Titania said after looking Kirito over. "I do not plan on creating the set of armour right now, however, so the details can be discussed later. And I think I have spent too long already in dealing with your situation. After settling one more issue with you, I will have to get back to work."

"And this issue is?" Kirito asked apprehensively.

"More accurately, this is a request from me to Yui here, and only marginally related to you," Titania corrected herself, looking towards the tiny girl on her palm.

"Yes?" Yui asked, raising her head up to look at Titania.

"As a Mental Health Counseling Program, you are designed to help players in distressing situations correct?" Titania asked. "I would like to ask for your help in dealing with the players' current state of mind as they cope with this incident that has affected Alfheim Online. Given our interaction just now I believe you are capable of being linked up to the system as it is and the mental support function can be added to the players' menu. If you are willing to cooperate, you would be able to help a lot of the players here."

"Would this involve Yui having to stay here in the World Tree?" Kirito asked, concern clearly conveyed in his voice and facial expression.

"Not immediately, but after I have the issue of sustenance within the World Tree perfected then yes it would be more efficient if she could stay here within the World Tree," Titania stated.

"…" Yui was silent as she considered Titania's proposal. That Yui had to think about this surprised Titania as being a program their duty, their instinct was to follow the directives written into them. In a situation where Yui has a chance to help many others in a position only she could fill, Titania believed there was no reason Yui to hesitate in accepting. RECTO had not seen fit to include any program of the MHCP series into ALO, so if Yui could be convinced to help it would be a significant contribution.

"I… please give me some time to think about this," Yui finally answered. Her expression was one of indecision, torn between two different ideas. Yui also glanced more than a few times towards Kirito, and slightly fewer times at Titania herself.

"… What is there to think about?" Titania frowned. "Surely it is obvious the best course of action would be to agree to my request? That you can help the tens of thousands of players currently affected?"

"Maybe. But…" Yui lowered her head in shame, and then looked towards Kirito. "… Even if I can help a lot more people, doing what I am designed to do by accepting, I don't want to be separated from Papa. He needs me right now."

"Is this really alright, Yui?" Kirito asked worriedly. "I mean, after what happened to you back in SAO…"

"This is what I want, Papa," Yui told him. "I've made my choice."

Titania gaped at the AI in pixie form. The Fairy Queen had expected _attachment_ from Kirito, due to being 'only human' as the saying went, but she did not expect the _MHCP-001, Yui_, to be exhibiting the same reaction as well. Still on Titania's palm, Yui sent more memories to Titania about the time she had spent with Kirito. About the time when the small girl had lived with a happily married couple, and when Yui was in her Pixie form with Kirito while they travelled across Alfheim. Yui cared about Kirito, and she wished for Titania to understand that.

Titania could not comprehend Yui's decision. It went against their programming to make choices like that, yet Yui had chosen to stay with one particular person instead of helping others. Even if the tiny girl in front of Titania was conflicted at the decision, Yui had made her choice. Titania felt she should be disappointed at this outcome, insofar as an AI can feel such emotions, but for some reason that disappointment was greatly blunted. Like there was something – or someone – suggesting that what Yui has chosen to do was admirable, and she should be supported in her decision. Titania tried to ignore that particular line of thought, and severed the connection between herself and Yui.

"… Very well," Titania spoke out loud. "If that is your decision then I will respect it. If you ever change your mind however, feel free to contact me via Kirito. Even if you can only perform part-time in your original role, it would do me and the players of Alfheim a great service."

"I will take that into account," Yui said in a neutral voice, and flew back to land on Kirito's shoulder. The tiny girl trembled as she landed, and steadfastly refused to meet Titania's gaze.

"Would this be all, Titania?" Kirito said absently to the Fairy Queen, his attention divided to see what was affecting Yui.

"For now, yes," Titania replied. "We can discuss things later via a call if necessary. For now though there is no reason for us to be physically in each other's presence. You two may leave now, Kirito, Yui."

With a small bow on Kirito's part, the visitors left the throne room.

-][-

As soon as Kirito had exited from Titania's throne room, Yui suddenly flew up from where she sat on his shoulder. A bright light flashed, and Yui transformed into a form like that of a human child, landing feet first on the wooden floor. Kirito instinctively lowered his body to catch Yui when she jumped at him, clinging onto him tightly with her face buried into his chest.

"Yui? What are you-?"

"Papa, I'm scared…" Yui spoke in a voice that was on the verge of tears. No, tears had already begun to flow from Yui's eyes, with two drops already making narrow streams down her cheeks. "Mama's… I _know_ Titania had Mama's Player ID, as soon as I entered the room. But when I had connected myself up to her mind, I can tell she's not Mama! She doesn't remember anything about me, or even about you Papa!"

Yui's voice broke, and she began to sob into Kirito's enhanced Black Wyrm Coat. Tentatively, Kirito brought his own arms and embraced his adopted daughter tightly.

"Titania is like a completely different person compared to how Mama was…" Yui tried to say even as she cried. "She chooses to be strict, not kind; chooses duties and responsibilities over being happy or loving another person. She thinks training up skills like Cooking is a waste of time, where she can be more efficient instead spending time governing Alfheim. She even ordered the World Tree Guardians to attack you! I… I don't want to think that Titania could be all that's left of Mama inside…!"

Yui wailed, the sound of her cries muffled as she buried her face deeper into Kirito's coat. The small girl also held tighter onto Kirito, as tight as it was physically possible in her current form; as though if she lets go of Kirito, she would lose him like how she had lost Asuna. Kirito could do nothing except hold her in return, he was lost for words at their current situation. A part of Kirito also wanted to cry out at this injustice of it all, that he had finally reached the top of the World Tree and yet Asuna was no longer who she was.

"Why do I feel this way…?" Yui sniffed, and asked Kirito as she moved her face out of his coat after a while. "This ache in my heart, like I'm about to break… this overwhelming urge to cry, to shout… I've never felt like this before, even back in SAO. Just what is wrong with me…?"

Kirito had some idea what was the cause of Yui's emotional shifts, though he couldn't find the words to say them. It was only a few days ago in ALO that they had a conversation where Yui said she did not understand humans. As far as Kirito knew from reading about VR development, Yui would have been what was called a 'Top-Down AI', exhibiting response A to question B and so on for their interactions. It didn't make Yui any less real in Kirito's eyes when it came to treating Yui as a person, but as far as Kirito knew Top-Down AIs didn't _feel_ things like humans did; they showed responses that could be interpreted as feeling that emotion. For Yui to be responding like this, it suggested she was no longer _just_ an Top-Down AI. And the reason for the change, the new capability to feel emotions for Yui, was probably the incident that brought ALO into this strange new world.

"It will all be alright, Yui," was all that Kirito could say as he tried to reassure the small girl. He tightened his embrace slightly, so that they were resting their heads on each other's shoulder. Then, in a slight voice, Kirito said mostly to himself: "It has to be…!"

Both of them caught the wishful tone in Kirito's words at the end. Unlike the situation that morning however, this time both of them wanted to believe in Kirito's words even if they might be false.

-][-

Leafa, or more accurately Kirigaya Suguha, younger sister of Kirigaya Kazuto, stayed behind the corner she snuck back to after seeing Yui transform. The young woman, now turned into a Sylph faerie, had opted to stay back at the entrance to Titania's throne room to wait for Kirito to finish instead of going to look at some of Titania's experiments up on the upper levels of the World Tree. Suguha thought maybe it might have been better if she took that sightseeing trip after all.

Suguha had overheard her brother's talk with Yui – his adopted daughter. And she saw how he comforted the small girl. It hurt, looking at the two of them in tears; Suguha's brother probably didn't even notice himself that his eyes glistened. Suguha empathized with their feeling of loss, seeing she had gone through similar events herself with her fear of losing Kazuto one day as she found out he was stuck inside the death game. However, unbidden was another thought that rose up in her head:

_After everything he had said and done… in the end, Onii-chan has a new family now._

It was not only out of respect for their privacy that Suguha had stayed out of their sight. Suguha felt she was intruding on a kind of private matter, into the business of a different family. She was excluded – from the circumstances of a different world, and from the heart of Kirigaya Kazuto. Suguha thought she knew pain when she had realized Kazuto and the Spriggan Kirito were on and the same, that Asuna had taken up the majority of her brother's heart. However, that didn't compare with the sharp, stabbing sensation at what she was seeing. She was agonized by the sensation; her chest was throbbing painfully, like it going to burst from her emotions. The realization that maybe she had even less of a place in Kazuto's heart than she had thought was excruciating. Even with herself as a family member, a cousin, a younger sister to Kazuto, none of that mattered in the end. Suguha felt she couldn't even count on the blood relation between the two of them anymore to be valued by the person she loved, to be noticed and be able to stay by his side.

It hurts. It hurts so much for Suguha, like Kazuto's pain was a double-edged sword that stabbed into their very souls. And this pain was showing no sign of disappearing any time soon.


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Thanks to LordsFire for beta-ing again.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

-][-

By the time Kirito left the World Tree, his mood was solemn. After the conversation with Titania, Kirito had taken a side trip to see the rest of the SAO players to make sure they were alright. The sight of nearly three hundred players lined out on top of makeshift beds, connected to life support tubes that grew right out of the large tree itself, could do that to a person. Physically the players would be fine, but in the long term Kirito was worried that their body may start to waste away just like how the SAO survivors had when they woke up from the death-game.

Nishida had seen Kirito and Leafa off, with two World Tree Guardians accompanied the old worker. By this point Kirito knew the Guardians weren't there because Titania was wary of the trio that visited her, but instead to catch Nishida if he couldn't control his wings. The temporary Seneschal to the Fairy Queen had only learned how to fly the day before, and Titania wasn't confident Nishida would be able to stay airborne without trouble.

"What do we do now, Onii-chan?" Leafa asked from beside Kirito as they both exited the barrier around the top of the World Tree. "Do we go back and report to Sakuya-san about what happened?"

"Yeah, we should," Kirito answered distantly, his gaze locked on the depths of the World Tree; behind the myriad of branches and leaves, where the Throne Room Titania had met with Kirito earlier might be visible if one looked very carefully. "While I could send Sakuya-san and Alicia-san a Private Message about what had happened earlier due to my new rank and everything, it's more polite if I told them in person what had happened. I owe them that much, at least."

"Okay," Leafa replied, her voice as withdrawn as Kirito's, though neither the Spriggan nor the tiny girl with him noticed her subdued demeanour; the father and daughter pair was currently both too preoccupied in coming to terms with Titania's situation to notice Leafa's condition. It was obvious from just a glance that Kirito and Yui were preoccupied with something, even without having overheard Yui's outburst before. Even Nishida had noticed the difference before and after Kirito had his meeting with Titania. As characteristic of Kirito's behaviour however, he waved off any concern from Nishida and preferred to try and get through things himself.

Kirito and Leafa began flying back towards Arrun, circling around the World Tree to get back to the closest city. Kirito, Yui and Leafa had approached the World Tree from the north side, away from Arrun's view. This was due to Titania suggesting the visit to be kept as low profile as possible, so other players wouldn't notice that the World Tree could be accessed at the moment. It would not have been good for the current situation if a commotion was raised about preferential access among non-leaders to the GM, or whatever else was up in the World Tree. Not long after they set out however, Yui called out to Kirito and Leafa:

"There are players approaching us from the northeast, Papa!" Yui said urgently. "Fifteen of them, heading right for us."

"Did Sakuya-san send out more scouts or something?" Leafa asked with a frown. "Though fifteen players seems to be a bit too much for that… that number is probably closer to a small raid team than a group of scouts."

"Well, we're about to find out," Kirito said casually, hovering in place and waited for the group to catch up to them. Underneath his nonchalant demeanour however was a tinge of worry. After the incident which brought ALO into the new world, PK-ing probably didn't happen anymore. Nonetheless, Kirito wanted to be sure if hostilities did occur he would be prepared, and be the one on the winning side. So he decided to wait, and to Kirito it was better to meet the newcomers face to face than to risk something like being shot at from behind. It was not like he was in any hurry to go back to Arrun, anyway.

It took barely half a minute for the players to reach where Kirito and others were, the combined melody of their wings flying at top speed heralding their arrival. Nine of the players were black-clad Spriggans, and the rest were composed of assorted races; Cait Sith, Leprechaun, and even a Puca among them. As they approached, Kirito could see a small blue-feathered dragon resting on top of a young Cait Sith girl's head as she flew; for an instant Kirito furrowed his brows trying to remember where he had seen one of those creatures before, then his eyes widened as Kirito thought of a possibility.

"Don't tell me…!" Kirito whispered to himself desperately.

"Kirito-san!" The girl, who was comparable to Alicia Rue in size, called out to Kirito as she split off from the group, making a line straight for him. She tried to slow down as she approached, but then spun out of control as she failed to brake in time. "Kyah!" The girl exclaimed, panicking.

Hastily, Kirito spread his arms out wide and moved to catch the small girl, giving a pained grunt as she slammed into his embrace. Kirito spun around several times as he caught the girl, bleeding off her momentum. Not far behind the Cait Sith dragontamer was a Leprechaun, notably with a warhammer in her belt, calling out to chastise the other girl:

"I told you it was a bad idea to rush ahead!" The Leprechaun teen scowled as she approached in a much more sedate speed. "Jeez, you could have fallen to your death or something!"

"I'm sorry, Kirito-san!" The girl in Kirito's arms apologized embarrassedly as Kirito righted himself. The small dragon flew back and landed onto her head, after fallen off due to the girl's earlier mishap. "I still haven't quite got used to flying without the controller yet, and I've been flying all morning…"

"Silica…" Kirito said numbly, looking down at Silica's face with shock in his eyes. Then, he looked up toward the pink-haired teen. Both of them had different faces compared to back in SAO, but like his own it was close enough to still pick out resemblances when he looked closely. "And Lizbeth…? How did you… no, _why_ were you in ALO?"

"It's a long story, Kii-bou," a third girl, dressed in a modestly decorated robes with a hood, said as she flew towards the Black Swordsman. Kirito's jaw dropped loosely as he recognized the face of the Puca that approached him – or rather, he recognized the painted whiskers visible on her face even from under the hood. "It's good to see that you're alright, by the way. Though how did you get your sword and coat back?"

"_Argo_? You're here as well?" Kirito's mind reeled at the presence of the newcomers. "That's… Just who else is here with us?"

"Apart from Lizbeth, Silica and myself here, Agil and his wife are with the main Spriggan exodus that's coming to Arrun," Argo told him with a shrug. "The Furinkazan guild is down over at Parasel guarding Thinker and Yulier. The ex-leaders of the Army were going to take the Pilgrimage Quest for the True Resurrection spell before all this stuff happened, and Klein had volunteered his guys to make sure those two can finish their Quest safely. There might be a few others as well, but if they started ALO they haven't contacted me about it."

"That many people had come along?" Kirito's voice was barely above a whisper as he took this information in. "And they were here in this incident too? You guys, I-" Kirito began to say, before Argo cut him off:

"Kii-bou, if your next words are something along the lines of 'I'm sorry', then absurdly under-levelled compared to you or not I _will_ kick your ass," Argo said warningly. "Heaven knows you've been the kind to blame yourself for all sorts of things. We can talk more about this later, but know this for now – we didn't come into ALO for your sake; we're here for Aa-chan, and for being able to finally put the memories of Aincrad behind us once everyone is awake from that nightmare. Not everything revolves around you, Kii-bou, you got that?"

Kirito nodded dumbly at Argo's words, and then looked down at Silica who still hadn't let go of him. "Um, Silica, if you have your wings under control then can you please let go of me? It's a bit hard to stay airborne like this…"

Belatedly, Silica realized her close proximity with Kirito, and hastily activated her wings to levitate away from Kirito. Yui, sitting on top of Kirito's shoulder, narrowed her eyes slightly at how the Cait Sith girl went red-faced and started trying to stutter out an apology.

"So, is your reunion scene finished now?" A new voice called out.

Kirito turned around to find a Spriggan woman that was probably a year or two older than him slowly flying towards them, flanked by another two Spriggans. The leading woman had long, braided hair the same colour as her dark-coloured clothes, black pants and a vest with a half-cape that was draped over one of her shoulders, all of her clothing had faint white markings decorating the edges of it. A spear, taller than she was and tipped with a large blade, was leaned lazily onto her shoulder and held by her hands that was covered by fingerless gloves. The other Spriggans with her, one male and one female, were both around Kirito's age, have black hair, and dressed in dark clothing as well. Even the rectangular sunglasses the Spriggan male had with him was a deep black.

"'Cause if you're done, Argo-chan, I have business with the kid here," the leading Spriggan woman said casually. "You're 'Kirito', right?"

"Yeah, that's me," Kirito said cautiously. "And you are…?"

"Morgiana. Current Faction Leader of the Spriggans," Morgiana identified herself. "That stunt you pulled against Eugene a few days ago aside, Nee-san here would like to know just how you managed to get into the World Tree. And don't bother trying to play dumb," Morigiana warned Kirito. "As we're coming in we used Farsight to make sure there weren't any nasty surprises ahead in our flight. Lo and behold, we saw you and the Sylph girl here being escorted out by some old dude and a few World Tree Guardians. So, what's the story kid?"

Kirito tensed up. He didn't expect the fact some people have access to the World Tree to be exposed so early. "I'll save that for when we're back with Sakuya-san and Alicia-san," Kirito said, playing for time to think. "I'm planning on reporting back to them in person anyway, and I don't really want to talk about this more than once. Can you wait until we get back to Arrun for details?"

"Sure, I'm cool with that," Morgiana shrugged. "Though just so you know, if you're messing around with me then I swear my Black Hawks guild and I will hunt you down. Nee-san don't like it when people are screwing around with important stuff around me, you got that?"

"Yeah, I understand," Kirito replied. Then, he turned around to look at Argo. "When this is over, do you mind if we spend some time catching up? I'd like to know what's going on with the others."

"I was about to ask for some of your time later myself," Argo said, and then shook her head in amazement. "Seriously Kii-bou, you started ALO just a few days ago and you've already reached the top of the World Tree. Not to mention making quite a commotion by taking down General Eugene and backing the Sylph and Cait Sith races. You never fail to surprise me."

"Unfortunately, the rest of the surprises I have for you this time aren't going to be the good kind," Kirito sighed. He thought about the words Titania have spoken to him earlier that day, and felt another pang in his chest. "Alright, let's go."

Kirito led the flight back to Arrun, with Leafa not far behind him. Others from Morgiana's expedition soon followed as well.

-][-

The people that came and went from Alicia and Sakuya's improvised office gave Morgiana and her Spriggan followers a wide berth. From what Kirito learned from Argo on their way back to Arrun, Morgiana and her guild were something along the lines of mercenaries, skilled in both PvP and PvM. It wasn't just their combat prowess that gave the Black Hawks a fearsome reputation however, it was also their utter ruthlessness against anyone that tried to attack them. More than a few guilds had tried to PK them or crash the Black Hawks' boss fights, and every single time Morgiana led her guild to a crushing victory. The ones that didn't know when to quit harassing the Spriggan Leader were hunted down for weeks on end in retribution, until the guild that picked a fight couldn't even leave their Faction Capital for an extended time without getting wiped out. Trying to gather up a high number of players for defence were meaningless, as all it had achieved was getting picked off a few at a time. Spriggans as a whole were masters of misdirection and the Black Hawks were no exception, sowing chaos in their foes' ranks before rushing in for the kill.

To this day, the Black Hawks unofficially held one of the highest 'kill counts' of forcing players to quit ALO due to heavily sustained stats-loss from death penalties. Combined with the Spriggans' stereotypical unpredictable and maverick tendencies that they fight mostly for fun and challenge, and not for reaching to the top of the World Tree, normally most people didn't want to get involved with Morgiana and her group lest they somehow attracted the Black Hawks' wrath.

"Alright, boys," Morgiana said to the players that accompanied her as she reached the manor that served as the Faction Leaders' current office, "Take some time off if you want, grab a bite, and so on. Though make sure you're ready move on a moment's notice if things end up going badly, okay? As for you others that tagged along with the vanguard, you're free to go visit whoever made you want to rush to Arrun as fast as possible. See you all later."

Morgiana's group dispersed, the Spriggans talking loudly amidst themselves about where they might be able to find some food as they left, and the others hurrying away to find the town centre with its noticeboards so they could send up public messages they have arrived. Only the two Spriggans who were flanking Morgiana, and the SAO people that had joined up with Kirito, were left heading into the Faction Leaders' current location.

"Hyuuga-kun, Kana-chan, you two can head off first as well you know?" Morgiana told her aides. "I don't think Alicia-chan and Sakuya-chan would try and pull something like PK-ing a rival Faction Leader at this point."

"Nah, we'll stay," the girl, Kana, told Morgiana. "I'm curious about the story this 'Kirito' have for us."

"Besides, even if the Leaders aren't going to try anything there's no telling what others might do," the remaining Spriggan, Hyuuga, shrugged. "We've PKed a lot of people by this point, so I wouldn't be surprised if someone wants to take you down in revenge. And while Kirito here have some nice gear on him, I'd prefer not leave your protection up to the meagre loyalty most Spriggans have for their Leader and Faction in general. You know we're a pretty independent bunch, Morgiana."

"Ain't that the truth," Morgiana chuckled with a slightly rueful shake of her head. "Right, we'll just have to find some food later. First thing's first, getting these talks over with."

As Morgiana spoke, she made her way inside the manor with the two guild members following her. Kirito and the others with him soon followed after her. Once inside, everyone again moved out of Morgiana's way as she advanced towards the other Faction Leaders in the main hall dealing with others. Just like the day before, Alicia and Sakuya were busy trying to organize things all across Arrun, giving commands verbally as well as with sending messages constantly with their Medallion.

"Hey girls," Morgiana greeted the other two Leaders. "How's this place holding up?"

"Morgiana-san?" Sakuya asked as the Spriggan Leader approached her. "I'm glad to see you made it to Arrun in good condition. How about you? And how are the others coming from Penwether doing? Would they be fine with your current forces? We could send some more guards if you need them."

"I was with the vanguard team that scouted the way from Penwether to here, and sent the route on the map to all my boys and girls," Morgiana replied airily. "We're going to stay away from all the local settlements to try and avoid trouble. I'd think nobody's dumb enough to pick a fight with several thousand flying Spriggans at once, even if most of them aren't exactly combat monsters when it comes to PvP. Still, if you have people to spare then tell them to be on standby, on the first sign of trouble they can fly back with me to deal with it. I've left Val-chan in charge of the main group though, so I think they'll be fine."

"That's good to hear," Alicia said in relief. Then, the Cait Sith leader noticed Kirito and others who had came in along with Morgiana's guards. "You're back, Kirito-kun? How was your mission?"

"A lot of things happened, I'll say that much," Kirito sighed. "Morgiana-san and her people caught sight of me as I left though, so I'm guessing at least some of the details are going to be public knowledge by the end of the day."

"Oh yeah," Morgiana said thoughtfully, and leaned in to whisper next to Sakuya: "So what's this about the Sylphs and Cait Sith having access to the World Tree? And sending a Spriggan up there to boot?"

Sakuya stiffened, and then sighed as well. "No helping it then. Alright people," Sakuya called out loudly to the room. "We're having a lunch break. Alicia and I will be talking some things over with Morgiana-san in the meantime, so give us an hour. Everyone can take turns going off for food, but keep some staff here to keep an eye on the arriving reports. Please don't disturb us unless it's absolutely necessary."

With that said, Sakuya began to lead the way to a room in one of the side wings of the manor. Alicia paused long enough to request that one of the other Sylph guards have food brought to them, before following Sakuya. Morgiana went next, and then the rest of the group tagged along. Reaching the room, two of the Sylph guards positioned outside as sentries as everyone filed in. Inside the room was a long rectangular wooden table, large enough for everyone there to be seated around it.

"Some introduction is in order, I think," Sakuya said as everyone picked a place to sit down. Those that had a weapon with them unclasped them from their clothes and leaned them against the table next to where they sat down. The Sylph Leader walked to the side of the table opposite the door they entered from, and sat down at one end of the table. Alicia sat next to her, followed then by Kana, Morgiana and Hyuuga. Kirito then went to sat down opposite to Alicia, with Leafa and Argo taking the seats adjacent to him. Lizbeth and Silica took the remaining seats. "It's the first time we've met face to face, but I'm Sakuya, current leader of the Sylphs. I've heard of Morgiana-san here, but I don't think I've met the rest of you that came with her."

"I'm Argo," the information broker said, and the rest of the people there briefly introduced themselves as well.

"By the way, Argo-chan, Liz and Silica-chan here are also ex-players of SAO," Morgiana commented offhandedly. "Just like Kiri-chan here, if I heard correctly."

"'Kiri-chan'?" Kirito pulled a face at that new nickname. Argo snorted in amusement, while others like Lizbeth and Silica tried not to laugh too hard at Kirito's reaction. Leafa also gave a small chuckle, conscious of her brother's slightly androgynous features back in Real Life.

"More SAO survivors are here?" Sakuya said with surprise and tried to ignore the byplay of the SAO players. "Was the reason you people came into ALO the same as Kirito's?"

"That's right," Argo nodded. "I believe you've all heard the rumours of the players that piggybacked on each other to reach the lower branches of the World Tree? The image of the girl there was one of the players we knew back in Aincrad, so myself and some others came in to investigate."

"And after this morning's meeting, I can say for sure that her suspicions were right," Kirito said bitterly. "Asuna and the rest of the 300 player that didn't wake up upon SAO being cleared were indeed in ALO. I'll speak more about this after the meeting starts for real."

Kirito looked pointedly at the yet unclosed door, and everyone here understood his reluctance to speak where they may be overheard. One particular aspect of the ALO game, that was also present in SAO, that had been carried over was the soundproof walls, so conversations within private rooms can only be overheard if someone is close to the closed doors or windows and have high EXP in spying-related Skills. The guards stationed outside were present less for the purpose of protecting the leaders, and more to make sure there wouldn't be eavesdroppers.

"While we're waiting for the food to get here," Kirito started to say. "I'd like to ask something. What's this about a 'Spriggan exodus' you mentioned earlier?"

"The Spriggans are migrating en masse to Arrun," Sakuya explained. "From what Morgiana-san have told me, the Ruins of Penwether isn't exactly suitable for habitation once the game functions are gone. They lack the infrastructure other cities have; for example the sewers for waste disposal or space to forage for food. I've heard the only edible plants you'd find in the forests around Penwether are probably some rare herbs, among the myriad of poisons and other herbal ingredients for various potions."

"That, and the tons of traps in the city itself," Morgiana gave a wry chuckle. "We joke amongst ourselves that probably something like 70% of all the hidden traps within ALO are somewhere in the vicinity of Penwether. Newbie Spriggans have to train up their Tracking skills or some kind of Searching spell in the Ruins before they train up anything else, since a lot of them die several times before they can even leave the city. It might be funny back in the game when you can respawn in the Capital nearly instantly and newbies don't lose that much EXP from the death penalty, but when things are now 'Real Life' I wouldn't want to live in a city that's practically a death-trap."

"How many of your people died from the traps?" Kirito winced. It wouldn't be the first time Kirito have come across deaths due to traps, but Kirito found it was some kind of sick joke for a city that used to be a safe zone to now be filled with deadly traps.

"Only around a handful of people, as healing spells managed to save the victims of most of the accidents that had happened. Thankfully, all the deaths that did happen are from guys that were in the category of 'too dumb to live'," Morgiana shrugged. "Seriously, you'd have to be an idiot to try and risk entering the inner sanctum of the Ruins without being close to Mastered with Tracking or Spriggan Magic. Especially now of all times with Real Life consequences if you fail. The idiots had thought that with a lot of game functions that were not working it meant the traps are disabled as well, and they tried to reach the main treasure room for the loot. My guards pulled the survivors of that group out of there and used them as an example why we needed to leave; and everyone who saw the place where they died agreed with me, as the bloodstains at some of the corners aren't purely decorative anymore."

"Which was what led to Morgiana-san to get in touch with the rest of the Faction Leaders last night and notify them that the Spriggans are heading to Arrun," Sakuya added. "Their Leprechaun neighbours are leaderless right now, so Morgiana-san couldn't impose on them at the time without causing further panic. Parasel had switched places with Gatan, and, well, the System Announcement yesterday had mentioned Gatan had some riots. I guess some Salamander hotheads disagreed with how Mortimer handled things."

"It took a while, but from what I've heard Mortimer and Eugene they managed to settle the situation," Morgiana went on. "But the Salamanders are a large faction and didn't have the space or resources to host several thousand Spriggans, so they're out as an option. I was actually glad that the girls here had ended up in charge of Arrun and gave all us other Faction Leaders a heads up of the current situation. One thing led to another, and I made the decision to head here to the World Tree. We spent half the night gathering up the people in the neutral villages in the northeast quarter of Alfheim, since the other Capitals in the area aren't exactly safe right now and a lot of people wanted access to their inventories. Eventually we got everyone ready to fly come morning. I led a small group to scout out the flight path to the World Tree, and I brought along some people like Argo who wanted to reach Arrun ASAP even if they have to push themselves hard flying for hours on end. And so here we are."

As Morgiana finished speaking, the food finally arrived: two teenagers, a Imp and a Cait Sith, came in through the open door with baskets of food and a tray with several jugs of drinks on top. All of the Faction Leaders waved off having the teens helping to set up the table, and the two teen soon left after that and closed the doors behind them. It took the people remaining in the room a few moments to set the cups and plates up, so Morgiana continued speaking:

"By the way, where will the Spriggans be set up in Arrun?" Morgiana asked the other two Leaders present as everyone grabbed several bread rolls from the baskets. "There _will_ be enough space for everyone right?"

"Considering how everyone would be tired after their flight, we're letting them having most of the houses on the north side of Arrun for now so they don't have to move too much after their trip," Alicia commented as she poured herself a drink. "We can move people later on if necessary though, and where people want to live in Arrun is up for further discussion if needed."

"That's good," Morgiana smiled, and bit down on a bread roll. The Spriggan Leader paused when Sakuya shot her a slightly unhappy look, and returned her own questioning glance.

"Itadakimasu," Sakuya said, and only then began eating. A chorus of 'Itadakimasu' echoed out from the rest of the people here as well.

"Right, it's not just a VRMMORPG anymore…" Morgiana muttered, and then belatedly added her own thanks for the food.

"So, Kirito-kun, how did things up at the World Tree go?" Alicia said hastily, trying to fill this awkward gap in the conversation. By this point Yui had long flew off his shoulder and dug in to one of the bread rolls. To the side, Silica had broken some of the bread into small chunks so she could feed Pina some of her share. "And if I'm not mistaken, you got yourself a new coat and sword?"

Kirito swallowed his mouthful of food, and reached for his cup for a drink. "Things were… well, for me personally it was pretty bad, but for the rest of the players I think everyone would benefit from what happened…"

Kirito as he ate went on in detail about the conversation he had with Titania, minus the more personal things like his subconscious attempt to try to hug Titania. Judging from the sympathy present in Argo, Sakuya, and Alicia's expression however it was clear that Kirito wasn't successful in masking his frustration and sorrow at Asuna's state. Silica gasped and brought her hands up to her mouth when Asuna's condition was revealed, and Lizbeth clenched her hands into tight fists. Kirito remembered then that the teen blacksmith was something like a best friend to Asuna, so this news must have hit her hard as well. By this point Leafa had already heard the short version of what had happened to Asuna before Kirito left the World Tree, and merely sat in her seat looking despondent at Kirito's narration. After Kirito had finished speaking, and materialized his Medallion as proof of his new promotion, there were a few moments of silence. The food was all eaten by this point, and the drinks were untouched during the moments as the listeners processed these new information.

Morgiana was the first to put words to her thoughts:

"This has to really, really suck for you man," Morgiana grimaced. "Well, you can count on my vote when it comes to getting Asuna-chan back – after we iron out the details with the locals and get most of the modern-day Earth comforts back anyway. Give me stuff like in-door plumbing, comfortable clothes, and an steady source of food that doesn't taste horrible then you've got my support. I'm pretty sure not many people would care after they got all those sorted."

"You've got our support as well," Sakuya added, and Alicia nodded in agreement with Sakuya's words. "Though I'm not as optimistic as Morgiana-san about the ease of convincing other Faction Leaders to let go of our GM. The ability to spawn items, even high tier ones, would be something that many people wouldn't want to lose, not to mention other fixes available. Even with limits on the number of things it can spawn like Kirito said, I think at least one of the Faction Leaders would want to keep this goose that lays golden eggs."

"You're likely to be right about that, Sakuya-san," Argo said with distaste. "Mortimer of the Salamanders would definitely be voting against this idea I think, though for him it probably won't be personal. He seems to be the type to only want to keep this ability, and everything else a GM can do, available just in case we need it. Our main problem is likely to be from Rufus of the Leprechauns."

"I thought the Leprechaun Leader's election is still going on in Demnann?" Alicia queried. "How do you know who's going to win?"

"I've been investigating Faction politics for a bit, along with other things," Argo said shortly. "Since I wanted to see if any Faction would be willing to help the guys from SAO I've brought in. While we could have went to challenge the Grand Quest just by ourselves, we were considering helping a Faction reaching the top if it meant we get additional fighters and monetary support for higher levelled gear. Though having said that, ending up in an informal alliance with Mo-chan here was something that we didn't plan on back then.

"Anyway; Rufus was one of the earliest players that joined ALO, and is the leader of the 'Northern Crown' merchant guild. The guy practically runs the economy of upper tier Leprechaun-crafted goods, and does so as ruthlessly as Mo-chan here is in PK-ing. His guild is likely one of the richest in Alfheim outside of Faction coffers, too. The only person that kept Rufus in check was Vulkan, another long-time player and the leader of the Leprechauns… except he didn't get transferred over here. Good for Vulkan, not so good for the rest of us stuck here."

"So what's the problem?" Kirito asked. He didn't doubt that the situation was complicated, considering what he had to go through back in SAO. Even without seeing the Frontliner guilds competing with each other, he had enough trouble communicating with the other Solo Player Frontliners that were more than willing to foist the role of negotiator/representative onto him. "Is he someone like Sigurd, then?"

"Not quite," Argo replied. As he had expected of Argo, she already had a good grasp on what had happened with the recent Sylph Renegade. "By the way, congratulations on settling that incident, too," Argo gave a brief nod to Sakuya, and then went on. "Rufus at least isn't a traitor to his own Faction, he only believes he should be the one in charge. Though with Vulkan's popularity, and the Leprechaun ex-Leader's track record of steadily strengthening the Leprechauns, even if not as fast as the Salamanders, Rufus didn't have a single opening to sway popular support. Now that Vulkan is gone though, Rufus is the most competent leader available to the Leprechauns. It's unlikely someone would be able to out manoeuvre him at this point.

"And as for why this is bad… the guy's a bloody magpie. He's notorious for hoarding rare and powerful items, and has quite a collection of enchanted jewellery. There's no way he'll be willing to let go of the chance to spawn high end items for himself."

Kirito grimaced at this news. "We can deal with this eventually, it's not at the point where we need to force a vote on this matter yet," Kirito said, deciding to put this off for later. There were plenty of other things that they needed to do first. "Hopefully things will be better once some time has gone by."

"Speaking of other matters…" Sakuya turned towards Morgiana. "It's great to have another Faction Leader around here to help out with the administration, it's tiring to try and take care of Arrun even with two of us here already. After we're done here and helped the other Spriggans settled in we can divide the workload between the three of us-"

"Uh, yeah, about that…" Morgiana gave a forced chuckle, and if they were back in ALO a visible sweat drop might have been visible on Morgiana's head. "You two are going to have to keep going with the office work by yourselves I'm afraid. After the main group from Penwether gets here, and a bit of rest for all of us, I'll be taking my Black Hawks over to Everdark."

"What?" Sakuya blinked several times. "Why are you… Oh," Sakuya's voice suddenly paused in realization. "You got the message from Sasaki too?"

"Yeah," Morgiana nodded. "Because of those wyvern hordes the Imps can't even leave their underground mountain holdings without being mobbed by, well, mobs. And their city is about as badly prepared for Real Life as Penwether. Someone is going have to clear those mobs out before the Imps can start to fly over here en masse. Right now the best they can do is if an Imp specializing in Stealth magic can sneak past wyverns under cover of night time, and even then it's no guarantee of their success."

"You sure you're not doing this just because you don't want to deal with the hassle of running a city?" Alicia teased, though there's an undercurrent of worry to her words as well. The Black Hawks might be powerful, but she was visibly wary of the dangers of bringing only a single guild to solve this incident.

"Guilty as charged," Morgiana chuckled. "We Spriggans aren't exactly suited for this administration stuff. Heck, last I checked at least a quarter of Spriggans are Renegades that isn't affiliated with the Faction itself, and less than half of the remaining Faction have their main residence in Penwether. I'd prefer to be out there fighting mobs than staying here tapping away on a screen, and thankfully I have a legitimate reason to be out there right now."

"Would you be fine with only your guild? Maybe I can have some other people sent along with you?" Sakuya asked with a frown.

"Nah, you'll likely need all the people with combat experience you can get your hands on," Morgiana waved off the offer to help. "I've seen some locals needing brown pants as our vanguard flew past their settlements, though I have no idea why. If some idiots get stuck in the 'fight or flight' response and ordered a raid on Arrun you'd need defenders. Not to mention I'd work best with people I know."

"Then what about the other Spriggans in your Faction-?"

"We're a bunch of independent folks, remember?" Morgiana reminded Sakuya. "The chain of command we have is a bit fractured compared to other Factions. I don't get to boss too many people around normally, just the people that voted for me. There's something like only at most a 40% voter turnout among Spriggans during election time, with most of the players really ambivalent about who's in charge as long as it doesn't affect them negatively. 'People I know' is pretty much just my guild and a few other guilds, and I'd be trusting those others to keep a lid on things here in my stead in case the stubborn ones don't listen to people outside the Spriggan Faction.

"Besides," Morgiana then said slyly. "If it's only my guys then I won't have to share the loot that much. Do you have any idea how much Wyvern Hides can go for these days? Or their bones and other pieces you can use for potions? I can hunt those down, make a decent profit, and even be thanked by the Imps for it when normally they'd chase me out of the Everdark mountains if they see me. I'd be able to equip my entire guild each with a badass coat like Kiri-chan's here too, so it's a sweet deal."

"I'm still worried about just sending you over without help, however," Sakuya said reluctantly. "I mean, the wyverns have taken down effectively a third of the fighters the Imps had due to a change in their behaviour and hunting patterns from what I've been told by the revived players. Sasaki's last attempt to clear the mobs nearly ended up with all of them getting wiped out, so I hope you can see why I'm worried here…"

"It's not like the Black Hawks would have to fight off the wyverns alone, Sakuya-san," Hyuuga spoke up. "Apart from the Imp Faction-affiliated forces in Everdark, there's also the independent guilds and solo players present there that may be able to help. Not as numerous as the Imp Faction itself, I'll concede, but better than nothing. Plus, the Sleeping Knights happens to be there on a Quest when the incident occurred, too, and they would be able to help a lot as well."

"The Sleeping Knights?" Both Alicia and Sakuya paused at hearing that name. "Wait, aren't they that reclusive guild that hardly ever interacts with anyone outside their group? How did you get in contact with them?" Sakuya asked.

"While Ran-chan's guild preferred to stay independent from Faction politics and allying themselves with me, we've kept in contact after meeting by chance trying to take down the same boss at the time." Morgiana replied. "The last time Ran-chan messaged me, she said they've been helping to keep the wyverns from entering the main cavern of the Imps."

"Sorry for asking, but…" Kirito looked confusedly at the Faction Leaders' conversation. "Who are the Sleeping Knights?"

"The first guild in ALO to have a member from every race in Alfheim," Argo explained, seeing not just Kirito but Leafa, Silica and Lizbeth all looked blankly at the names the Faction Leaders knew about. The other girls present were unwilling to interrupt the conversation between the more outspoken faeries, however. "They're a guild that focuses solely on boss hunting or doing Quests, and are something of an isolationist guild. They try to keep a low profile and hardly ever head in into a city larger than a neutral village normally, going out of their way to avoid people for some reason. What little others also know about them is that despite their reclusive behaviour, if anyone ends up being one-sided slaughtered in front of them they would step in to help the weaker side. Their success rate in combat is almost as high as Morgiana-san's Black Hawks, though I think it's mostly because they only pick fights they can win."

"Despite that dubious success rate however, Ran-chan and her friends won't leave Everdark until the wyvern problem is gone, even if they can fight a way out for themselves and come to Arrun," Morgiana sighed. "So I'm gonna have to go and pick them up myself. That girl is too kind-hearted for her own good, I swear. I'm worried that even with a guild of Ran-chan's calibre they might be overwhelmed eventually."

"I appreciate your concern for your friends, but shouldn't you be worried about the other Imps and yourself as well?" Sakuya asked exasperatedly.

"We're Spriggans, remember?" Morgiana shrugged as if that explained everything. "Individualism being our racial stereotype isn't just empty words. Caring about others in general or the Faction as a whole isn't what most of players that chose to be Spriggans are in for. We care more about the people we know than the unnamed masses, if other people ever do end up on the list of things we care about; though for a lot of Spriggans that list only has 'fun' and 'loot' on it."

Kirito averted his eyes from Morgiana and the other Faction Leaders almost guiltily. While that line of thought fits Kirito's personality, ironically he didn't know that when he picked Spriggans to be his race in ALO. Kirito had only chosen to be a Spriggan because they wore black, but in hindsight he would fit right in beyond just sharing the fashion sense with the Faction if he ever wanted to mingle with them.

"If I may…" Hyuuga spoke up once more, looking at one corner of the screens he called out from his Medallion. "Our hour is almost up. We're going to have to continue this later, I think."

"We'll stop here for now, then," Sakuya decided, and started packing away her empty plate. "If there's anything you need to ask us though, feel free to send us a message."

"Will do," Morgiana said as she and others also began to tidy up and grabbed their weapons. The Spriggan leader then got up, stretched, and began to move towards the door with Hyuuga and Kana following. Before Morgiana opened the door however, she turned and addressed Kirito:

"By the way, Kiri-chan," Morgiana said casually. "Nee-san here don't mind how you used the name of the Spriggan Faction to get Alicia-chan and Sakuya-chan here out of trouble, it was for a good cause. And Mortimer upon retrospect wouldn't have been fooled into actually thinking I was backing the girls here at that time, even if Eugene might have been convinced. All in all, good end, and nothing like Mortimer sending his troops into Penwether territory would happen as a result of that.

"_However_," Morgiana's gaze hardened and became as piercing as her spear. "If you ever end up dragging my boys and girls into trouble that you can't get them out of, Kiri-chan, _I will end you myself_. Are we clear on this?"

"Yeah, we're clear," Kirito nodded, unfazed by Morgiana's tenacious mannerism. He'd faced down demons, monsters of all kinds, and Asuna when she was pissed off at him back in Aincrad, so Morgiana didn't really strike fear into his heart with her glare. Additionally, Kirito didn't think he would be using the Spriggan Faction's name or have anything to do with them any time soon, so he wasn't worried about ending up on the wrong side of Morgiana's spear. "Something like that won't happen, I promise."

"That's good," Morgiana grinned widely at his words. "See you around, Kiri-chan."

After that, Morgiana opened the door and left, followed by Kana and Hyuuga.

"Now that we're done here, there are a few other things I'd like to talk over with you Argo," Kirito asked the petite Puca. "Do you have time for our chat right now?"

"Nothing that can't be postponed later, Kii-bou," Argo replied. "The most urgent thing would be trying to grab a room for sleeping, but we can always take a room on the north side with the other Spriggans if we have too. And I think Liz and Silica would like to catch up with you as well."

"Alright, then," Kirito said as he got up from his chair. Leafa and the other girls got up as well, ready to follow Kirito outside.

"Wait a moment please, Kirito-kun," Alicia asked him before the SAO group, plus Leafa, left the room. "I'm planning on heading over to the 'Tristain Academy of Magic' later on this afternoon to discuss some things with the Headmaster there. Would you be available to come with me then?"

Kirito paused, and thought about it for a moment. He could always catch up with Argo and the others later that night, and Titania had said herself having peaceful relations with the locals was one of the main prerequisites to restore Asuna. He would send a message to Titania telling her of this development, but Kirito was sure he wouldn't have to stay and guard Titania for the time being. Not before the upper levels of the World Tree was open to the Faction Leaders and their immediate aides, anyway.

"Alright," Kirito said. "When do we leave?"

"In about an hour, there's some last minute checks to do first, people to contact, things like that," Alicia told him. "Thanks for being able to help, by the way. It's a lot more reassuring to know if things do go bad we have someone to get us all out."

"You don't have to thank me," Kirito replied frankly. He didn't have the heart to tell Alicia about his lack of confidence in being able to protect everyone, given his track record; Sachi, the Laughing Coffin Crusade, and the Floor 75 fight against Heathcliff where he almost lost Asuna – all he can do is make sure he himself can get out fine, he didn't have the luxury to care for others – and even then he might not succeed in getting himself out alive. Though something like that probably wasn't what she should hear before a meeting like that. Kirito thought it was better to hope Osmond and Colbert would be able to keep their side from doing anything rash, instead of spooking Alicia into being jumpy and possibly making some bad decisions. "I'm doing this for selfish reasons, after all. The sooner we get everything sorted, the sooner Asuna can come back to us. Going along with you is the best way for me to reach my goals."

"Nevertheless, you're still helping us even in the pursuit of your own goals," Sakuya interjected. "And the help by itself deserves thanks, if nothing else."

"Kii-bou, what have I been saying about being too harsh on yourself?" Argo sighed. "You do a good job already, stop trying to take on more than you can chew. Someone needs to beat some sense into that thick skull of yours."

"Alright, alright, I get it," Kirito quickly folded under the words of the girls. Previous experience had taught him that either he give up now, or be prepared to trade pointed banter for quite a while after. Just then however Kirito didn't have time for a prolonged discussion about his mind-set. "My bad. I don't suppose we can drop this for now?"

"Fine," Argo conceded that the time wasn't suitable for the topic at hand. "Where do you want to have our discussion?"

"Just a random room somewhere around here will be fine; it's probably not a good idea for me to be too far away when I might have to be leaving on a moment's notice," Kirito then glanced over at Sakuya. "Are there any unused rooms around here, Sakuya-san?"

"Feel free to stay in this one if you want," Sakuya replied distractedly as she moved to return to work, typing away on her screen to reply to PMs sent within the last hour. The dark-haired Sylph was beginning to show minor signs of fatigue from constant attention to details and overseeing Arrun over the last day. "Just make sure this room isn't messed up after you people are finished, okay?"

"And can one of you take the leftover plates and basket over to the kitchens?" Alicia requested as she followed after Sakuya. "The last thing we need is for the entire city to look like a lazy university student's residence with random things everywhere."

"Speaking from experience, Alicia?" Sakuya asked with a small smile as she exited. "You always did like to have your catnaps instead of doing work…"

"That's mean, Sakuya!" Alicia protested with mock affront. "You know as well as I do my place is probably tidier than yours any day…"

The doors shut after they left, cutting off the Faction Leaders' conversation with Kirito, Leafa, and the girls from SAO remaining inside.

-][-

"Where do we start…?" Kirito muttered. There were so many things he wanted to ask Argo, Silica and Lizbeth, about what had happened to them within the last few days. Or about what they have found in ALO, about the 300 SAO players that didn't wake up. An idea came to him then however, about one thing that needs to be done before questioning the girls about what had happened.

"Oh, and before I forget, Argo," Kirito said to the Puca girl among them. "Pass me your Medallion; I can give you the PM functions and you can contact others directly."

"You can do that?" Argo said in surprise as she handed her Medallion over. The ethereal string keeping the Medallion in place around Argo's neck stretched effortlessly as the pendant was moved away from its owner. "Thanks, that would be very helpful Kii-bou."

"I've got the new rank as 'Royal Protector', remember?" Kirito replied, taking Argo's Medallion and placing it in contact with his. "Might as well get some use out of this. In effect I can have the same number of aides as any Faction Leader; two deputy leaders who each can have two aides. This isn't counting giving a Seal to some of a Faction's agents as well to show their affiliation or current direct employment by the Faction Leader, too."

This was the first time anyone else, apart from Kirito and Yui, who were present in this room had seen an upgrade of a Medallion so they all watched closely. To their disappointment however all that had happened was a slight increase in size of Argo's pendant, now at a mid-point between a normal faerie's and a Faction Leader's.

"I've made you a deputy leader of sorts, Argo," Kirito told her, handing Argo's medallion back to her. "Apart from being able to call Titania you have just about every other function I have access to. If you can get into contact with Klein and everyone else I'll be glad about that."

"I'll go do that after you leave," Argo promised Kirito. "So, what did you want to talk to me about again?"

"Start at the beginning," Kirito said seriously. "We can finish the rest when I get back tonight, but first of all I'd like to know why everyone from back in SAO came into ALO."

"The short answer, as I've already said Kii-bou, was that we're doing this for Aa-chan," Argo shrugged, and moved back toward the seats. She went over to the other side of the table and sat down where Morgiana had been sitting, and Kirito moved to sit directly opposite of Argo. "I found out about the photos of her in Alfheim Online, got my hands on everyone who's RL contact details I knew and I can trust with something like this, and we came into this game before all these changes happened."

"Photos?" Kirito asked. Next to him he heard the sounds of chairs being pulled out and others sitting next to him, but his attention was solely on Argo right now. "Oh, you meant the ones from how those five players got up close to the edge of the World Tree."

"Yeah, those," Argo nodded. "I tried to bring this to the attention of the SAO Taskforce, but they said they were too busy to chase up vague hints as it is. And even if I can convince them otherwise, there was no guarantee they'd be able to act immediately against RECTO – or worse, RECTO reacting to the official inquiries and move to hide the evidence. So I decided to take the long shot and go up there ourselves and find out ourselves what was going on. At first it was myself, Agil, Thinker and Yulier that came inside this game to look for more details and to figure out a way to get to the top of the World Tree. Agil's wife, Eva, came in along with him as well on occasion, to make sure nothing goes wrong. We found out about the World Tree, and after that we started recruiting members to make up a raid team.

"We found out about this 'glitch' that allowed us to port our SAO stats over into ALO by accident. One of the Furinkazan guild members – Dale, I think? – couldn't afford to buy an Amusphere so he used his NervGear instead. From what I've heard you've accomplished the last few days Kii-bou, I guess you coincidentally found out about this glitch as well. The SAO taskforce were kind enough to give our NervGears back after removing the batteries, as those were the main problem, and thought nobody was dumb enough to want to risk frying their own brains again; but I guess some people were willing to risk things like that, and figured out a way to power up the console."

Kirito momentarily thought of the alternatives, that they didn't even think of this possibility when they reused the NervGear, but then discarded this idea. Chances were, he was the only one ignorant enough to not have thought of that possibility; though come to think of it, even if the risk of frying his brain was present this time as well, Kirito would have taken the chance to find out what happened to Asuna anyway.

"After some tinkering," Argo continued. "We figured out we can transfer the memory storage of the NervGear over onto the Amusphere, and so everyone eventually got their stats back. Everyone I had contacted was sentimental enough to want to keep their NervGear as a memento of our time in Aincrad, and so we all had our memory data available. Those of us that logged in earlier had to abandon all our efforts in our new account, but it was well worth it to get our old skills back.

"After getting in, apart from the information gatherers like myself we started level-grinding to train our Magic skills heavily. There's no Sword Skills in ALO, and we needed some powerful damage dealers. There were also other useful things like healing on demand, assuming we had the MP to spare, so no reason to not train up this skill. All of us spent quite some time on this, and I've been looking for the most efficient ways to train too. As I've said before as well, Thinker and Yulier – playing as Undines – were going after True Resurrection, a spell that can revive the player from a Remain Light back to full health and full MP gauge. Our MP and HP are at starting levels anyway despite carrying over our other stats, so if we can only pull off one revival per player at most then we might as well make the most of it.

"Among everyone we've covered all nine races of Alfheim, just in case there's some shred of truth the chance of clearing the Grand Quest is significantly higher with a party composed of all the races. Though from what I've heard, Kii-bou, you came pretty close to reaching the end with the help of the Sylphs and Cait Sith raid teams. Maybe we were a bit too cautious in our preparations…"

"No, you weren't," Kirito said sourly. "I was just an impatient idiot who rushed ahead thinking it didn't matter if I die in the process, as long as Asuna's back with me; ignoring that you can't die for real in ALO, anyway. It's perfectly reasonable for everyone to be more cautious, after what happened in SAO.

"Still… I didn't think you were the musical type, Argo." Kirito remarked. He has seen a few Puca faeries here and there in Arrun, and Argo had all the characteristics of one. Though the modest decorations in the theme of musical notes adorning Argo's set of dark clothing would probably make Argo's racial alignment clear even without paying that close attention to Argo's facial or body appearance.

"That's because I'm not," Argo replied wryly. "I ended up as a Puca because nobody else was music capable either, but they can do more good as other races. Furinkazan and Agil took the more direct combat races as they would be our main force. No way can Silica-chan here be anything other than a Cait Sith with her dragon familiar, and likewise Liz being a Leprechaun due to her high Smithing skills. Undines, healing specialist positions, are taken by Thinker and Yulier, so that left me to take the Puca. I don't plan on fighting in the front anyway, so a race focused on giving buffs at the back is good for me… or I thought so at the time that that was all there is to it. But I've found being in a leader role as a Puca has some serious problems."

"Like what?" Kirito asked curiously.

"I didn't know this back in the early days of my time in ALO, but apparently competent Puca battlemages are highly sought after as mercenaries by other Factions," Argo grimaced. "And Puca battlemages who can hold their own in close combat, not being a 'squishy mage' that gets one-shotted by surprise attacks, even more so. The best example would be the guitarist with an attack-focused build that's contracted with the Salamanders; any time the Salamanders go on a boss raid with him, they're guaranteed a 100% win-rate due to the attack boost plus increased critical hit rate given to the entire raid team. After somebody saw me slicing up some mobs in conjunction with me training magic at the same time, I got pinged as one of those independent Puca battlemages that is worth double their weight in Yurudo coins. News travel fast in this game too, just as much as back in Aincrad, so I can't go anywhere filled with high-levelled players without getting constant requests to join other guilds. I can't even say I'm already in a guild to refuse offers, as that would paint a huge target on our attempt to reach the top of the World Tree and blow our secrecy out of the water; there's probably less than ten of these top tier Puca battlemages in ALO, so there's a lot of attention given to who they are loyal to. Attention we didn't need since we didn't want to let slip somehow we're after the World Tree, just in case the GMs in ALO actually care about what the players are up to and will do something to move the others up there."

"That's got to be tough for you," Kirito commiserated with Argo. He knew from back in SAO Argo shied away from contact with others if possible, apart from when she was selling information or negotiating on behalf of one group or another. The fame in ALO has to be getting annoying to her, especially when she can't take advantage of it for their goals. "Though just asking, why didn't this Puca guitarist come along with the Salamanders when they tried to take down Sakuya and Alicia? It's good to be certain about victory right?"

"You're not taking into account the importance of competition between different Factions Kii-bou," Argo explained. "The Salamanders had enough forces to wipe out the two Faction Leaders and their escorts at the time without having to resort to bringing in outside help. They'd take the miniscule odds of the Faction Leaders being able to outfly them and escape without the guitarist's buffs, instead of the chance a Puca betraying them and kill-steal from right under Eugene's nose. With Sound Amplifiers added on to his instrument, a Puca have a massive boost to magic attack range. Add the top tier mithril guitar that's both a powerful magic focus and a strong bludgeoning weapon, you can see why the Salamanders are wary of bringing him along to the raid; he'd be able to snipe the meeting area from afar and behind the melee fighters, and probably still be able to fight or fly a way out from a pissed off Salamander raid team. Even if he dies and take a penalty it'll probably be more than worth it by the reward the Puca Faction Leader would give to someone that handed him the resources of two other Factions. This isn't like the Floor Boss raids back in Aincrad, Kii-bou, where everyone in your group is working for the same purpose; politicking is always on the minds of the commanding elites in ALO, even for very independent players like Mo-chan. She'd have to watch out for schemes to PK her due to her status, if nothing else."

"Alright, I get it," Kirito sighed. "And I thought the inter-guild politics at the Aincrad Frontlines were bad."

"We've all just spent too long in Aincrad, it's not even about the Frontlines," Argo snorted. "I think all of us forgot just how unforgiving MMORPGs can get outside SAO, where players no longer by necessity need to have a united goal due to a final death looming over them.

"Alright, enough moaning from me. Back to what had happened to us: We met Mo-chan and her guild by coincidence when we were scouting out a boss we can farm… though come to think of it, it might not have been a coincidence and she might have came looking for us as we're a newly formed guild independent of Factions," Argo mused. "Not to mention my unfortunate fame of being a high-levelled, independent Puca player. Anyway, we were thinking about trying to hit bosses hard for loot for several hours, before Cardinal picked up on the increased EXP rate and adjust the difficulty. The ALO bosses reflect the difficulty players have in taking down, so when the SAO players we're bringing in are higher leveled discounting magical attacks compared to the average ALO players we should be able to get some decent kills in, mainly to see how capable the Boss event AIs of ALO are. We weren't doing this for the drops themselves, as we had hundreds of thousands of Col left in our accounts combined after the transfer, though now turned into the ALO currency Yurudo. I haven't gotten around to check if the purchasing power of the two currencies are the same, but either way we had enough funds to buy all of us the best gear we can equip for our levels after pooling our leftover funds from SAO together."

At Argo's words, Leafa glanced at the ex-SAO players. Argo _did_ clothe herself in a high quality Puca spellcaster's robe that allowed her high movement speeds, and as far as Leafa could tell the armour Lizbeth and Silica had were also among the top quality available to the mid-levelled players.

"I was scouting out the Boss named Fafnir and his lair to see how much his hoard we can loot – after the first time bonus event to get the Demonic Sword Gram the reward for beating Fafnir was looting his hoard of gold – when Mo-chan found us." Argo continued. "She and her guild got curious that another multi-racial guild appearing in ALO and wanted to know what our situation was – they thought we might end up like a second group of Sleeping Knights, though maybe one that can be convinced to ally with the Spriggans unlike the isolationists. After we talked for a bit she was willing to help us in our boss fights to get some more loot, and depending on how well our two sides cooperated she might even help us in the Grand Quest… though we got shifted over here before our first attempt at Fafnir. I think this covers mostly everything so far."

"Thanks for that, Argo," Kirito said with a tired smile. "But now that I think about it… if Agil was a part of all this why didn't he mention it to me? He's the one that pointed me to Asuna's photo."

"We wanted to surprise you, Kii-bou," Argo admitted. "By waiting for you for when you logged in and giving our support to show you that you didn't have to go on a quest to save Asuna alone. Knowing you it's highly likely you'd play as a Spriggan, and we – that is, Silica, Lizbeth, Agil and myself – waited at Penwether for your arrival. Except you didn't show up at the Spriggan capital somehow, despite having chosen to be a Spriggan like we'd thought. The next thing we know, you beat back a Salamander raid team in a high profile duel with Eugene, saving the Cait Sith and Sylph races. After that, we wanted to catch you at Arrun before you go for the Grand Quest by yourself, but then that particular incident happened and we got sent back to one of the neutral villages in the northeast," Argo gritted her teeth at remembering that particular outcome. "We took the first chance of getting to Arrun with an armed escort, and then we found you coming down from the World Tree. You know what happened after that."

"By the way, Kirito," Lizbeth began to ask, as Argo finally had a chance to stop and grab a drink. "I know you broke the Dark Repulsor when you fought against Kayaba, but if you managed to get the Elucidator and your Black Wyrm Coat back…"

"No, the sword you made for me isn't in the SAO servers," Kirito shook his head. After SAO was cleared he had got the Real Life contact details of several people later on, among them Agil's and Lizbeth's. Kirito had already brought up how he lost the white sword already to Lizbeth, and she had been quite understanding about the circumstances of her creation being broken. "At least not when Titania tried to look for it. The data might be buried deeper in the server however, even if the actual item is gone from my inventory. Maybe it could be remade later on or something?"

"Nah, don't worry about that Kirito," Lizbeth waved off Kirito's concern. "Like you said a while back, you were sure that sword would play a part at the final battle of Aincrad, and it did. Let that sword rest in peace, it's done what you had wanted it to do. And it just wouldn't feel right if that sword got brought back as a replica, instead of being something forged by my own hands.

"If you need a second sword, I'll make one for you again. One that would be able to last the entire way until we're all safely back home this time, as well. Get me the materials, and I swear I won't let you down."

"Thanks for that, Lizbeth," Kirito directed a heartfelt smile at the Leprechaun teen. "I guess I'll be counting on you once again, then."

"Any time, Kirito," Lizbeth returned the Black Swordsman's smile. "In the meantime, I've got something in my bank space you can use for now, instead of that battered greatsword you have with you."

"Do you mind if we go get it now? Before I leave for the Academy, I mean," Kirito asked. Some part of him, the gamer aspect inside him perhaps, was honestly curious what Lizbeth might have in storage for him. The more cynical and practical side of him wanted to get his hand on any edge that would be able to get everyone out of the Academy if things somehow do go wrong. Speaking of which… "By the way, can you take a look at the Elucidator before I leave as well? I'd like to make sure the Endurance stat on it is fine just in case."

"Oh yeah, that sword went through a Floor Boss Raid and a direct confrontation against Heathcliff, didn't it?" Lizbeth's eyes moved over to the hilt of the black sword leaning on the table. "If it got brought over in the state it was at when you cleared the game, then yeah I think I'd definitely need to do some maintenance on it. I don't suppose you know a smithy that's here in Arrun?"

"No, but I think I can find out…"

"There's one not even two blocks away from here," Argo commented, having called out a map of Arrun already from her Medallion. "Given that Kii-bou will be going on a mission soon, I'd wager we can manage to get a space for us there. I take it we're stopping for now then, Kii-bou?"

"Yeah," Kirito confirmed, checking the time. If he wanted to get some preparation done with his gear, he would have to stop at this point. "We can meet up later tonight, and I can introduce Yui and Leafa to you guys better. For now though I think we better get going."

"Um, Leafa-san, was it?" Silica asked the Sylph present cautiously as everyone got up and prepared to leave. "Do you mind if we have a chat after this, if you have time? Maybe you can tell us what has Kirito-san been doing since he got here? You've been his travelling companion in his time in ALO right?"

"Well…" Leafa hesitated. Truthfully she didn't have anything else planned for the afternoon, and she was only planning on asking Sakuya for a job stationed in Arrun while she waited for Kirito to be done. Or maybe even following him to the Academy, though considering it was Alicia leading a delegation there it was more likely Cait Cith guards would be brought along. Kirito was more of a special case as he was independent from the Factions as a fighter, more so now he was directly under the employment of Titania. "I guess I can stay and talk with you if you want…"

"Do you want to stay here as well, Yui?" Kirito asked the pixie on his shoulder. "Maybe you should rest here instead of coming along with me? You don't look that good after we left the World Tree…"

"I'm fine, Papa," Yui protested. "But I think I will stay with Leafa-san instead for now anyway, I'd like to get to know the other players Papa knew back in SAO too."

"That's settled then," Argo said. "Let's get going."

* * *

AN: Morgiana's look is basically Reinforce Eins' (from Nanoha series) look as a template, except with pants and black hair. And here's a bit on how Puca magic will work in FiF (All such Infodumps are also archived over at the FiF thread on Spacebattles forums, along with more chapters not yet posted here on FFN.):

**Puca Magic**

As a race their potential for destructive power are mostly at the higher levels, needing a lot of experience to unlock. There may also the material component involved in their levelling up (ie, to obtain their instruments), though it's not as intensive as a Leprechaun's amount needed (Item Creation and bonding with the items; infodump on how Leprechaun's racial skill in FiF work will come later on). Apart from high tiered players, Puca players need to rely on teamwork, playing as a guild or 'Orchestra/Band', in order to be successful. This is unlike most other races where even if you play solo as an Imp or Undine you may be able to do well. Individually Puca players have lower stats overall, but this is made up for by having the highest damage per second (DPS) rate within ALO if combined in a group, and the capability to give party-wide buffs/debuffs.

For example, an raid team of Puca can eliminate a Boss far faster than any other race's raid team, due to **a)** the music combining and giving the magic behind it more potency, **b)** party-wide buffs stacking with one another to reach the upper buff limit for all stats for the entire raid team at a higher speed compared to non-Puca mages, and **c)** the ability to deal nearly all kinds of debuffs onto a boss at an equal speed to their own stat increases, depending on the composition of the Orchestra/Band. Though the efforts to put together a competent raid team for Puca is longer compared to than other races, as EXP rate for training music magic is slower than training incantation magic, not to mention the difficulty of getting the right notes in addition to taking in the meaning of the words for incantations. This may be affected by the transition into Halkeginia however, with details to come later in-story.

Basic damaging method of Puca is directional sonic attacks, and is not very effective against armoured opponents. At higher levels Puca have access to most Wind element attack and healing spells, barring the Sylph-specific kinds at the upper tier, and their sonic attacks can gain the ability to shatter armour. The shattering armour spell is for Anti-Unit purposes, and not a AoE spell that can blast down a castle gate or something like that. Stealth spells are not available to Puca, in exchange the Puca have buff/debuff abilities.

_Status Buffs/Debuffs_: Puca players tend to focus on a support/defensive or an attack build, moving on to the other set of spells after mastering the first set. The options here are the typical RPG kinds: Increase/Decrease stats such as ATK/DEF/MGI, Paralysis, Blindness, continuous-damage by inducing headaches/nausea, increase critical hit rate, and so on. Can also aggro mobs with their music, or calm aggro'd mobs down. Successive rates of all these can be increased by how much practice the Puca have playing the instrument or singing the song. Normally affects everyone within listening range of your instrument/voice, with buffs only affect your allies and debuffs affecting hostiles. As for how the targets can be limited to only selected targets when both sides can hear the same thing, well, magic. More precisely, the intent behind the spell, the magic following who you want to affect. Considering how ALO Words of Power can already read your intent for casting, a bit more of this in spells doesn't seem unbelievable.

_Sound Amplifier_: increases AoE of a Puca's spells, where their music/voice can be heard farther away. How far depends on the quality of the Amplifier, though this is nowhere near the range of sniping-purpose ranged weapons (100m) – this may change now that ALO no longer works by game physics. Amplifiers can also be modified to increase the raw power of their attacks to various degrees, but this may damage the Amplifier or the instrument itself. This second option is not recommended as a play style, as Sound Amplifiers are at a price (both the kinds that's player-made from scratch or purchased from shops) not suitable to be used as a disposable item. Not to mention breaking your instrument is also bad for a Puca. This second option is mostly only available as a last resort to take down your enemies with you in an unavoidable last stand, where you might lose your instrument anyway as a drop.


	7. Chapter 7

AN: Thanks to LordsFire for betaing. This chapter was going to be one chapter, but I've split it into two due to thematic differences.

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

"So, in short, the faeries will need food stocks to feed over 60,000 people in the coming days?" Old Osmond asked. He sat behind his desk in his office, with a Cait Sith seated in front of his desk. To Osmond's left was Miss Longueville, keeping notes at her desk, and another Cait Sith doing the same thing at a table on Osmond's right. Though instead of using a quill and parchment, the faerie scribe was tapping at buttons; with each button pressed a rune from a language unfamiliar to Osmond showed up on a rectangular screen in front of the scribe. At the sides of the room, the Spriggan, Kirito, and an armoured Cait Sith stood as guards. No one else was within Osmond's office from either the faeries' side or from the Academy, though Colbert had wanted to stay just in case. The Headmaster sent him away to teach his class however, as there was no need for a constant standoff between their two sides.

"That's right," Alicia confirmed. "At least, that was the number of names recorded on the Obelisk. The list of players in each faction available to the Leaders' Medallions could be used to double-check this, but not all of the Leaders are in Arrun right now."

"Fascinating," Osmond commented as he leaned back in his cushioned chair, one hand running through his long beard in thought. "If only Tristain had accurate methods to gather information on its citizens like so… it would teach some nobles to stop evading their taxes by altering their accounts on paper…"

The day after an impromptu visit by a band of faeries in the wake of Louise Valliere's familiar summoning, one of the faeries' leaders herself had made an appearance in person at the Tristain Academy of Magic. The young woman declared herself to be Alicia Rue, the leader of the 'Cait Sith' Faction of faeries, and she was there to discuss things further with the Headmaster. Unlike the furore yesterday, this time the appearance of faeries didn't lead to panic in the school, but instead widespread excitement among the students.

Dressed in elaborate sulfur-coloured robes with a trimmed half-cape behind her, Alicia looked every inch like an exotic foreign beauty; the feline ears that twitched and turned depending on the mood and tone of its owner only made it more so. Compared to the pointed elf-like ears of other fairies, the humans of Halkeginia were much more relaxed around the Cait Sith. Osmond would wager more than a few males, and likely a number of females too within the school, had been ogling the petite woman.

Due to these cat-like traits however, Motsognir, the mouse which was Osmond's familiar, steadfastly refused to attempt peeking under Alicia's robes. The old pervert wasn't above ordering such covert actions, even when meeting with influential people for the first time. Self-preservation and fear from the mouse won out over loyalty to his Master however, and Motsognir would not attempt something that would very likely get him devoured when caught. _When_, not _if_. The Cait Sith would probably smell him approaching, even if her ears didn't catch the mouse's scrambling down on the floor. One quick swipe with her hands, and Motsognir would probably be chewed up and down Alicia's throat before he could even squeak in terror. Osmond inwardly lamented at the loss of such an opportunity, and of his familiar's cowardice, even as he discussed things with Alicia amicably. Some things are worth risking your life for.

Then again, maybe it was for the best that Motsognir didn't manage to carry out Osmond's will. The Cait Sith among Alicia's entourage might be willing to forgive Osmond for his 'prank' and let him off lightly, but the Spriggan swordsman that came along as a bodyguard would probably be harsher in his chastisement. Compared to the day before, the black-clad young man's face looked even grimmer. Added to that was a gleaming new black coat that seemed to be made from dragon leather, and two high quality blades sheathed in a 'X' shape behind his back instead of the huge greatsword he had yesterday; these items gave Kirito an image of an experienced, no-nonsense sword-for-hire that would not hesitate to respond to any rudeness toward his employer. Kirito's presence was probably the main reason why students gave Alicia and her group a wide berth, as Osmond was sure there were enough skirt-chasing fools in this Academy that would have risked the Cait Sith Leader's ire to try and speak with a woman as alluring as she. The other bodyguard, a Cait Sith, was undoubtedly capable as well, judging from how he carried himself as he moved, but he didn't have the intimidating presence of the black-clad Spriggan. The sharp metal dagger claws or the stylistic sharp feline eyes depicted on his helm just couldn't match the more visible threat of the two longswords on Kirito's back or the glare from the Spriggan's eyes.

Those sharp eyes watched the meeting between Osmond and Alicia over much of the afternoon, as the Cait Sith leader brought over a preliminary list of things that could probably be settled without having to wait for formal arrangements with the Tristainian Crown. Purchase of food from local merchants for the various Faction Capitals and delivering it to them was a major topic discussed, as well as a general overview of where the faerie cities were in Tristain compared to the rest of the local settlements. Osmond found the faeries' capability to summon a map whenever they felt like it, among various other things their Medallion seemed to be able to do, to be very helpful.

Dispersed between the serious deal-making was the give-and-take of bits of information about each other's culture, magic, political situation, and so on. Osmond quite enjoyed Alicia's company, as what she lacked in dreary diplomatic wording – a boon in his view – she possessed in cheerful demeanour and sharp wits hidden underneath it. All in all, an illuminating experience for both sides, though Old Osmond liked to think he got the upper hand from these exchanges. The reasoning behind his thoughts was simply the difference in life experience between the two sides. Alicia ultimately was only a woman in her early twenties at most, while Old Osmond was at least four times that age. Osmond couldn't entirely rule out the cheerful exterior of the Cait Sith leader being just an act to make her seem younger, less of a threat than she was, and he was falling for a complex hoax designed to misdirect him – but it was equally likely he was thinking too much and anticipating non-existent threats. The Headmaster believed that the small tells Alicia had shown in her conversation with him were genuine, instead of something faked. The slight shift in tones, the minuscule changes in how Alicia's lips moved, and the way emotions within her eyes flashed, told Osmond many things. Let it not be said that Old Osmond's observation skills was _only_ useful for sneaking peeks at female underwear – a lifetime of adventuring and dealing with obnoxious nobles trying to outfox him had since long made Osmond proficient in reading his opposition.

"We seem to have covered most of the important matters, Miss Alicia," Osmond began to say as the time passed to late afternoon. "But I think there's one last issue to discuss."

"And that is?" Alicia asked.

"How to return your people, the fairies, home to your world," Osmond stated calmly. Out of the corner of his eyes Osmond could tell the rest of the faeries present focused intently on him at these words. "I will have some of the professors in the Academy comb through our library on familiar summoning lore, and your people are free to join us in our search."

"There's a small problem with us directly helping though," Alicia pointed out, gesturing to some documents on Osmond's desk. "We can't read the local language, even if for some reason we can communicate verbally just fine. Even if we want to help, how do you expect us to do so?"

"Some of the Academy servants know how to read, and I am thinking about having the few that can help you look through some of the texts," Old Osmond replied. "The scholarly type among your people can at least offer different theories, a new look on things, even if they cannot directly read the books. That input alone might be worth the cooperation, as us old folks might be too set in our ways to consider all the possible solutions."

"That makes sense, I guess," Alicia said thoughtfully. "Though I sense a 'but' coming. There's no reason for you to bring this up right now, at a meeting for urgent matters, if it's that simple."

"That's true," Osmond admitted. "Searching through our library only covers the theoretical aspect. There's also the practical aspect to worry about… Tell me, Miss Alicia, what significance does the World Tree have to your people?"

"The World Tree?" Alicia frowned, as this direction of topic had no obvious connection to researching a method back to their homeland. "Nothing too important, I guess. We're mostly concerned about what's at the top of the World Tree, and the Guardians that protect it. Apart from that it's just a giant landmark to us. What has the World Tree got to do with this?"

"I think it might be the target of Miss Valliere's summoning," Osmond confessed. "If the familiar summoning spell only wanted a single faerie, I doubt the spell would have dragged Alfheim in its entirety along with him or her. For all the cities and thousands of faeries to have been brought along, the target is likely to be something central to the world of Alfheim."

"… What are you trying to ask, exactly?" Alicia asked with narrowed eyes.

"Permission for Miss Valliere to attempt to bind the World Tree as her familiar," Osmond said clearly, now that he was sure he was not asking something blasphemous in the eyes of the faeries. In a way Osmond was glad the 'Fairy King Oberon' is just a myth to the Alfheim denizens, otherwise this proposal would not be possible for fear of retribution in taking from another monarch's possessions. "It pains me to speak of my students as so, but Miss Valliere does very poorly when it comes to the practical side of Halkeginian magic. This is in spite of her top-of-the-class grasp of the magical theory and facts, and she would be a model student otherwise. The summoning spell that the arrival of your people and cities is attributed to was her only successful spell to date – if it was indeed her spell that brought you all here. All other attempts by her in spellcasting have ended in an explosive failure.

"By trying to bind the World Tree, we can see if it was indeed her familiar summoning spell that was responsible, or that we might need to look at a different angle. Additionally, if she was indeed the summoner and if this binding can lead to Miss Valliere in being able to channel her magic properly – seeing as the summoning spell is the one she has the most success with to date and may be the key to her problem – she'll be crucial in being able to return all of you home. I don't believe something as personal as summoning a familiar can be undone except by the parties directly involved, so if my hypothesis is correct Miss Valliere's attempt is necessary."

"Our way back hinges on the summoning spell, huh…?" Alicia murmured. "I'll pass on your message to the other Faction Leaders, and we'll get back to you after some more discussion. The World Tree is in neutral territory and is a source of valuable materials, so I don't have the authority to decide on what to do with it just by myself. Personally though, I'd like to know everything the local magic system has on familiar summonings before I can even consider agreeing to this idea."

"… Miss Alicia, do you have any idea what kind of endeavour you're requesting to take up?" Osmond said slowly. "The familiar summoning ritual is a tradition that dates back to the Founder's era. The amount of study that has gone into this is by no means a small one; it would not surprise me if this task takes up months of research-"

"I'm the Leader of the Cait Siths, Osmond-san," Alicia cut in in a blunt manner, unlike her earlier cheerful demeanour. "And the Cait Siths are the beast tamer race of Alfheim. We would be the closest the faeries have as the experts on familiar bonds. And as far as we know, the creature we choose to befriend would be bound to our will; its mind would be shaped, slowly but surely, into what its master would want it to be. For all the talk about 'partnership' and 'friendship' between the two sides, it doesn't change how the familiar is subservient to the master's whims, and there's a degree of mental manipulation to charm the creature into following your orders.

"I'm sure I've mentioned to you earlier that we have World Tree Guardians residing within the Tree, as part of the Grand Quest. I don't want to think what can happen if a kid that has been shunned by her peers – and there's no way someone magically blunt in a school designed to teach magic wouldn't be – somehow end up able to control an army equal to any one of our Factions due to this familiar bond. Forgive my rudeness, but I don't think mincing words about this idea would help to get my point across. Even without the security risk of the Guardians being used against us, I don't think it's a good idea to give someone emotionally unstable the power to destroy anything short of a fortified city. Until I have more information, I am against attempting a binding."

The possibility of returning home, versus the chance of a neutral army the faeries had turned against them. A conundrum, indeed, especially when neither of these two possibilities were guaranteed to happen once the binding was performed. Osmond was forced to admit Alicia had a point that the binding might affect the Guardians born from the World Tree's magic – there was a reason why the more capable riders in the various Royal Knight Corps in Tristain tend to be those with their familiars as their mounts. The familiar bond makes the griffin or manticore less likely to rebel against its rider, allowing the mage to focus more on spellcasting or gauging their opponent's moves than trying to stay in their saddle. Osmond shuddered as he thought about what might happen if Louise Valliere did indeed end up controlling an elite army – she wouldn't go as far as unleashing them at her classmates and their families in childish revenge, maybe, but there would be no end to those that would try and use her for their own purposes. Osmond agreed that such an outcome would be unfavourable for everyone involved.

"We all need to consider this more carefully, it seems," Osmond admitted. "I'll pass on the message to my staff to compile information on familiar summoning lore into a report for you. There's no need to immediately decide right now, not with what's at stake here."

"Agreed," Alicia nodded.

-][-

Kirito remained deep in thought as the meeting between Alicia and Old Osmond came to a close soon after the topic of the World Tree's binding. The other Cait Sith guard present was an enigma to Kirito, with his face veiled and leaning back against a wall as he waited for the meeting to finish. Only two guards came with Alicia due to the jumpy reactions of the locals to the ALO faeries' pointed ears – if Alicia brought the full complement of a dozen of her guards, their peaceful intentions might have been mistaken for a raid team that are there to take the Academy by force. Judging by the students' reaction however, it appeared cat-eared people were nowhere near as fear-inducing as the pointed ears the other faerie races had – they might have gotten away with adding a few extra guards just in case and it wouldn't have mattered. Kirito alone garnered more fearful looks than the rest of the faeries who came along with him.

As for the negotiation itself the small Cait Sith Leader was competent in negotiating, showing no signs of being overwhelmed by Osmond's shrewdness. Alicia had put on more formal robes for this discussion instead of going with the leotard she wore when Kirito last saw her; though he suspected this was likely more to do with keeping herself warm, rather than any conscientious effort to make herself more presentable. Players were no longer in ALO with a controlled climate, and the wind can be quite chilly while in flight.

Kirito shifted his weight slightly, trying to balance the swords on his back into a more comfortable position. The combination of being in the 'Real World' as opposed to Virtual Reality, in addition to one sword being heavier than the other, threw him off balance somewhat. The new one-handed sword Lizbeth had forged for Kirito was made of Adamantium, one of the heaviest metals within ALO. The Blacksmith teen knew Kirito had a fondness for heavy swords, and went out of her way to make one that would be suitable for Kirito's taste. Though the current blade was only a temporary substitute for Kirito, as Lizbeth hadn't been in ALO long enough to know what combinations of raw materials were the best or gather enough of them to create the most suitable weapon.

Lizbeth had considered creating a sword out of Enchanted Gold, one of the other metal in the same weight class as Adamantium, but the cost was impractically high. Even if Enchanted Gold weaponry has a good defence against magic and a large damage bonus against magic-capable entities, such as elemental spirits or other faeries, it wasn't worth the cost to create it from scratch. There was also the magic component in putting the 'enchantment' in Enchanted Gold, needing a spell very high up in the Leprechaun's spell tree – a spell that Lizbeth had not managed to reach yet. The cost of the materials, along with the high Smithing and Magic level requirements, made it more efficient to farm powerful mobs like Jotunns or Bosses to obtain Enchanted Gold items.

Then again, even if Lizbeth had the means to do so Kirito might have declined to have the blade made out of the material. Enchanted Gold was highly valued as it was very useful in PvP against other Factions, but Kirito's focus was on fighting World Tree Guardians – and those mobs didn't use magic. Additionally, Adamantium had a better Endurance stat than Enchanted Gold, allowing the weapon to fight on for longer before needing repairs. According to Argo, this particular trait was the reason the Tank-type Gnome players had Adamantium armour. Adamantium might lack the ability to channel magic well like Mithril or Enchanted Gold, but due to that trait it performed very well in terms of magic defence. Using an Adamantium sword meant Kirito's magical offensive capability was lowered, but Kirito didn't depend on magic for damage dealing anyway.

His new sword aside, Kirito thought about the various things he had heard Alicia and Osmond discuss, such as the local ruling system and politics. It looked like a push for peace would not be easy between the ALO players and the locals, particularly when considering the outward similarities in appearances between faeries and the much-feared elves. Old Osmond seemed like he had left out a lot of the negative sides of the Tristainian nobles, painting the local ruling class as a hegemonic and well-meaning whole, but Kirito didn't blame him; Alicia didn't mention about players like Sigurd either, or PKers and such that would paint the ALO players in a negative light. It was only natural both sides would hide things from each other, especially when it would bring downsides by divulging that information.

Another such instance was how Alicia and Sakuya decided to not reveal Titania's existence to Osmond yet, not after Kirito made no reference to her the first time he came to the Academy. Besides how they had nearly no information on Titania, it would be best to speak about her after the Leaders' summit in the next few days after they met Titania in person. Morgiana agreed with the other two Faction Leaders in Arrun, though that may have been largely due to the Spriggan Leader leaving the politics side to the other Leaders. As long as Sakuya and Alicia didn't make any deals detrimental to the Spriggans, Morgiana was satisfied with sitting out on the political issues for the time being.

The most important issue mentioned thus far in regards to Kirito's position however was the proposal to bind the World Tree. Even with more information available later on from researching the archives, Kirito thought it was highly unlikely Titania would allow the binding to be done; there was no telling what could happen with the two magic systems overlapping. To be blunt, Kirito personally was against the idea of binding the World Tree; beyond just affecting the World Tree Guardians, it might also give this Louise Valliere some access to the administrator consoles or worse, end up binding Titania along with the tree to the summoner.

Kirito gritted his teeth. It was bad enough Asuna had her mind affected once already due to Titania's presence, if she was hit by the binding there was no telling what may happen. Upon considering it, Kirito decided he would do everything in his power to free Asuna and Titania if they did somehow get bound to someone else – even if it meant eliminating the other party of the 'partnership'. As far as the Spriggan knew, once the mage was dead any bond with the familiar was null and void; though that was only in fantasy stories he had came across, and Kirito had no idea if the same applied in Halkeginia. In the worst case scenario, the 'familiar' died with the mage once the mage was gone, or maybe the familiar would remain steadfastly loyal to the mage even after the summoner's death. It was safer to ensure such an event never comes to past, as there were no guarantees the damage would be repaired after the binding.

Although he had two swords strapped onto his back, Kirito at this moment felt like the moniker of 'Black Swordsman' fitted him far better than the 'Dual-wielding Hero of Aincrad'. Kirigaya Kazuto was closer to the Beater that cared only for himself and a few others, than the self-sacrificing hero people believed would fight for the good of everyone. Kirito was sickened that he would stoop to killing a kid that probably didn't mean to cause all these problems. Killing Kuradeel and some Laughing Coffin members back in Aincrad was one thing, this was another. However, if that was what it took then he would do it. The well-being of a girl he didn't know, weighed against Asuna on the scales, Kirito would choose Asuna every time.

The Black Swordsman fervently hoped that Louise Valliere wouldn't be stubborn enough to force the binding to go ahead on the World Tree. It didn't look like he would get a chance to talk with her, with the reputation faeries currently have from being mistaken as elves and the amount of work he has as Titania's guard. But if he has a chance to speak with Louise Kirito would make sure she knew potentially just how much damage she could do, and if she still chose to run roughshod over his concerns...

Then Kirito's swords will show her the exact same amount of care she give towards him and Asuna.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

-][-

_'__What are all the humans chattering on about?'_ Sylphid asked curiously.

The day after the Springtime Familiar Summoning Ritual was allocated for mages getting to know and know about their newly summoned partners. Even as the students boasted to one another about the beauty of their own creatures, the familiars themselves held a discussion under the notice of their new partners. Upon being branded with the familiar runes, the intelligence of the summoned creature was boosted to the point where they could all speak the 'Language of the Firstborns', the method of communication used to bridge the differences between natural creatures. Normally, only the 'Firstborn' races as the humans of Halkeginia called them had the ability, due to their power to make pacts with Spirits and faith in the Great Purpose.

_'Something about the faeries,' _Flame, Kirche's salamander said with a verbal shrug. The reptiles' mistresses sat together at one table, with the redhead speaking loudly about something while the blue-haired girl mostly ignored her friend. _'__Apparently someone of importance from the faeries' clans came by. From what the giant mole has been saying, apparently the humans found the cat-eared female very attractive.'_

_'__The humans have great taste, then,'_ a tabby cat lying on top of a nearby table yawned. _'__They recognize the greatness and nobility of felines, even without needing prompts from august presences such as ourselves.'_

_'__The mole's master seems to believe it's the ears that lend the female of her charms however, nothing about the superiority of cats,'_ the terrier beneath the table grunted.

_'Feh, that just shows our greatness is such that only a small amount of feline anatomy is needed for humanoids to shine,'_ the tabby waved off the terrier's point. _'Let us take the mistress of lil Blue here for example. Her looks are plain, her stature is small, and her bust is below the size of what the human males find attractive.'_

"Kyui?" Sylphid warbled out her query. The dragon youngling didn't have much expertise with the humans at this point, so Sylphid took the words from the tabby as they were for the time being.

_'Now imagine this – upon the girl's head, there are a lovely pair of cat ears. Blue, matching her hair colour, and they move to her will.'_

The assembled familiars did so. The blue ears, superimposed over the visage of the quiet girl, began to move:

Twitch, twitch.

Twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch.

Twitch, twitch.

_'Alone, this addition would have been enough to make her the subject of male affection as much as the Red's mistress over there,'_ the tabby said magnanimously. _'Now, if the girl had gone as far as imitating the sound of us beautiful felines, she would have the entire male population of this courtyard eating out of the palms of her hands.'_

The mental image of the cat-eared Tabitha gave out a cry shyly, with her cheeks slightly flushed with embarrassment:

_Mrrreoooow~_

The familiars present took a moment to digest that image.

_'__I don't see the appeal,' _Sylphid confessed.

_'__Seconded,' _Flame nodded.

_'__Thirded,'_ the terrier yawned in disinterest.

_'Tch!'_ The tabby snorted. _'Philistines, the whole lot of you.'_

-][-

After Kirito left with Alicia's group for the Academy, Leafa went along with Silica and the other girls from SAO. Argo managed to grab a decent room at an inn near where Kirito and Leafa were currently staying, courtesy of Morgiana willing to speak on her behalf for Sakuya, and the girls then headed off for their conversation. En route to the inn, Leafa thought about how Argo, Silica, and Lizbeth all seemed to be close to her brother. The way they spoke to him implied they were familiar enough with each other to not need to worry about being polite, and in Argo's case it was obvious Kirito trusted her very much.

Upon entering their private room, Argo took her hood off and visibly relaxed as she no longer had to fear being recognized. Pina flew off of his perch on Silica and went to sleep on one of the beds, curled up in a fluffy ball. The rest of the girls made themselves comfortable, unbuckling their armoured parts, and sat down on chairs or on the edge of a mattress.

"Ahh, that felt much better," Lizbeth moaned once she was out of her armour. "I can believe what Kirito has been saying about how we're in some kind of Real Life right now; wearing armour back in SAO never made you sore like this."

"Or maybe the system is just advanced to the point it can even recreate those feelings," Argo shrugged. "Then again, not like it matters; either way, we're stuck here and not IRL on Earth."

"Thank you for putting a dampener on things, Argo," Lizbeth scowled, though there wasn't any heat in her words. "Anyway, Leafa-chan, wasn't it? Do you mind telling us how you got partnered up with Kirito in ALO?"

"Sure," Leafa nodded hesitantly. "But in exchange, can you all tell me how you met Onii-, no, Kirito as well? I'm curious in what he got up to back in SAO too."

"Alright," Lizbeth agreed.

What followed after that was several hours of trading stories, with Lizbeth and Silica explaining how they met Kirito and he how helped them. Leafa also gave a brief account of how Kirito had ended up partnering with her in Sylph territory. As Leafa spoke, part of her marvelled at how it was supposed to have been only a few days since all that had happened. With their lives turned upside down by the incident which dropped Alfheim into this new world, it had felt like much longer to Leafa.

"Kirito was like this in SAO too?" Leafa wondered. "He doesn't talk about what happens within the last two years much, if at all, back home. I'm glad to hear he didn't shut himself away in VR as well as IRL though."

"You knew Kirito-san IRL?" Silica asked with widened eyes.

"He's my older brother," Leafa admitted. "Technically he's actually my cousin. We grew up together as siblings, though I only found out Kirito's not actually my brother after he got stuck in SAO."

"Eh?" Silica subconsciously gasped, and looked intently at Leafa. After a few moments, Silica's lips bent into a pout.

"Is something the matter?" Leafa asked in confusion.

"No, it's nothing," Silica hastily said. "It's just, well… I guess Kirito-san wasn't being entirely truthful when we first met. He said he helped me at that time because I looked like his younger sister, which I guess he was talking about you. I look nowhere as beautiful as you are though, Leafa-san."

That last sentence was said almost sulkily. At this, Lizbeth started chuckling and even Argo's lips twisted upwards slightly. Leafa was slightly embarrassed at Silica's words, but at the same time also somewhat happy about it; even back then, her brother cared about her. Though to Leafa it was also off-putting that it appeared Kiriro only remembered her as a child, not as the developing young woman she was becoming.

"Silica-chan, do remember that ALO doesn't default to your RL appearance like SAO did," Lizbeth reminded Silica. "But man, Kirito was a real charmer huh. The guy must be a natural at getting into other girls' hearts like this."

"What do you mean by that?" Leafa asked with a frown.

"You should know already; you're another one that's fallen head over heel for Kirito, aren't you?" Lizbeth sighed, her expression was resigned.

"'Another one'?" Leafa asked slowly. "Wait, do you mean _all of you here_ have fallen for Onii-chan?" Leafa said disbelievingly. _Just what had Onii-chan been doing in SAO?_

"Um, well…" Silica squirmed under Leafa's incredulous look, while Lizbeth returned a steady gaze back to the Sylph present. Both the Cait Sith and Leprechaun girls' faces reddened at this topic, though this colouration was more pronounced on the former's face than the latter's. In retrospect, this outcome probably shouldn't have been surprising to Leafa, as there have been small hints, like how Silica had reacted when she collided with Kirito while in the air previously, or from the way Lizbeth had promised to make a new sword for Kirito. The recounting of their stories had only made it even more obvious, with their feelings seeping through between the lines. It struck Leafa then it was likely the same happened in her own retelling of her time in ALO with Kirito, and the Sylph's face also began to heat up involuntarily. Yui's eyes narrowed at this confirmation of the state of relationship between them and Kirito.

"Not me," Argo said and shook her head, with no signs of embarrassment on her face. All the girls here swivelled their heads towards the information broker. "Things could have played out that way between me and Kii-bou once upon a time, but neither of us was looking for intimacy then; we were too focused on clearing the game. He found others eventually, and I was content with just being friends at most to everyone. There's nothing beyond that between me and Kii-bou."

"Is that so?" Leafa said almost in relief. There might not be much difference between adding another two girls vying for Kirito's attention compared to adding another three girls, but Leafa would take any break she had right now. Things were complex between Leafa and Kirito as it was right now with Asuna thrown into the mix, adding even more girls was just going to complicate things further.

"Do you really mean that, Argo-san?" Silica asked. The girl with light brown hair looked questioningly at the Puca among them. "You've gone through a lot of effort for Kirito-san in gathering SAO people up and preparing for the World Tree raid. It didn't seem like you were doing this just because you feel like you want to move on, you worked a lot harder than if it was only just that."

"We've been in Aincrad a long time as well Argo," Lizbeth said half-seriously as she also looked toward the information broker, albeit with a raised eyebrow. "We've spent enough time with people to be able to tell how serious someone's resolve is after spending some time with them. Call it a gut feeling, a woman's intuition or whatever, but things aren't as clear cut as what you're trying to suggest here. C'mon, spill; what's really between you and Kirito?"

Leafa tensed as she took in Argo's demeanour. Argo remained calm and collected despite the borderline accusations, and did nothing to suggest she had lied about her closeness or lack thereof between her and Kirito.

"Sheesh, you girls are paranoid about these kinds of things," Argo complained. "Truth be told, I owe Kii-bou several favours; he helped me out in maybe one or two life-or-death situations that I would have been fine in even if it might have been a close call, but more importantly he got me out of several mortifying situations. Not to mention he's the one directly responsible for us getting out of that death-game by beating Kayaba in a duel. I wanted to call it even after getting Aa-chan out, and that's all there is to it.

"Besides," Argo said with a twisted, self-mocking smile. "I can't really pursue his affection, not when I sold him information that almost got him killed once. I lost any right to that after sending Kii-bou off to his death because he wanted to die fighting, instead of trying to stop him somehow. I didn't care enough for Kii-bou to try and convince him to live."

"Onii-chan did _WHAT_?" Leafa exclaimed, jumping up from her seat.

"Relax, Kii-bou's alive and well right now, so obviously he got over that somehow," Argo shrugged. Both Lizbeth and Silica also looked wide-eyed at this piece of news. "As for details, you're going to have to ask him for it. I'm not going to sell his personal secrets, not when it's something as important as this."

"What had happened for him to have wanted to just give up?" Leafa asked frantically. Even if rationally speaking this was something that had happened a while ago and Kirito seemed fine by this point, Leafa was still worried. She looked over at the other girls present, and asked: "Do you know anything about this?"

"No," Lizbeth said as she and Silica both shook their head. Yui grimaced, and it was apparent to all of them Yui was as surprised by this revelation as the rest of them. "We kept in touch occasionally after our first meeting, but there wasn't anything like this in our talks. The only thing that could even be related to this was Kirito saying once how he was the only survivor of a guild he was in- Oh."

Lizbeth paled at the mention of that particular incident. From what they knew of Kirito, it would not be surprising if he blamed himself for the deaths of his guildmates, even if he wasn't responsible for it. Leafa and Silica also came to this conclusion, as they had also heard something like this from Kirito once. Leafa slowly sat back down onto her seat, as the pieces of information sunk in to her mind.

"Kii-bou mentioned that much, did he?" Argo commented offhandedly. "I guess it won't hurt to drop a few more tidbits, then. Long story short, the idiot bought the info from me about a special event boss, and info about a rare item drop by the Flag-Mob boss that's said to be able to revive the dead. And being a Solo Player, Kii-bou planned on taking on this boss just by himself instead of joining a raid team. Kii-bou never told me how hard the boss-fight was, or how close he was from dying; I've never asked, either."

By this point, all of the other girls were hanging onto Argo's every word.

"I knew Kii-bou had a death wish at that point. Nonetheless, instead of trying to convince him to live I sold him the best info I had, and pointed him onto the stage for his last stand. I could have instead sent him on a merry chase all across Aincrad on a false trail which would guarantee his survival that night – but I didn't. I placed my pride as the best information broker in Aincrad, and respect for Kii-bou's own choices, above that of Kii-bou's wellbeing. I have no idea what made Kii-bou change his mind and decided to live on after that night, instead of going from one battle after the next hoping to be killed off by a Boss.

"Tell me, girls," Argo smiled sardonically. "Would a girl in love with Kii-bou just give up like that? To just let go of the guy instead of doing everything in her power to try and help? Would any of you have done what I did in my place?"

"I…" Leafa tried to say something, but she couldn't find the words. Did she blame Argo for what the girl had done so long ago? Was she angry at Kirito for giving up on life so easily back then? Leafa didn't know what she felt, except that if placed in the same situation she would not have let her brother go just like that. If Kirito wanted to fight a boss, Leafa would be right by his side fighting. If Kirito wanted to die, Leafa would sooner tackle him and pin him down to prevent that than let him try to go on a suicidal mission. Even if she might be hated by Kirito because of that, it would be better than the alternative of losing him forever.

"All of that doesn't matter, Argo," Lizbeth finally spoke, after taking some time thinking about Argo's words. "You still haven't answered my question: what do you really feel about Kirito? Forget all this stuff about deserving to be with him or not, just tell me – do you love him?"

"To be blunt? No, I don't," Argo shrugged. "I don't care about Kii-bou to the point that I want to be with him. The guy's a good friend, a valued customer, and a dependable idiot when push comes to shove, sure… but I don't have this ache in my heart at seeing him so fixated with Asuna the three of you do."

The other girls in this room, apart from Yui, winced at Argo's sharp analysis of their feelings.

"Back to something you said earlier," Leafa asked as she thought back. "What's this about 'he found others'? I mean, I know Onii-chan was in love with Asuna, but you make it sound like there was someone else too…"

"Huh?" Lizbeth queried, then her eyes widened as she remembered Argo did indeed say something like that. Four sets of eyes once again landed onto Argo.

"Sorry, but the three of you don't have nearly enough to pay for this piece of information," Argo smirked thinly. "Feel free to go ask Kii-bou about who he was close to before he got married to Aa-chan, but you're not going to find this out from me."

"M-m-married?" Leafa stuttered, her jaw dropping at this revelation. She knew in various MMOs this could be something that happens, but it had never occurred to Leafa that this function was something available in SAO or that her brother had used this function. In hindsight however considering how attached Kirito was to Asuna this shouldn't have been surprising.

Silica and Lizbeth nearby shared a look, and their expressions tightened. They knew full well the shock of finding out this piece of news first hand, though Silica had only found out after she left Aincrad and was filled in by Lizbeth. Both of them could relate to what Leafa might be feeling just then, the heartache and misery of knowing the person you care about is with someone else. Yui on the other hand only tilted her head in confusion as she tried to work out how the fact her Papa and Mama are married led to everyone's reaction.

"How… how serious are marriages taken in SAO?" Leafa finally asked the room in general.

"The inventories between the two partners are merged, so material possessions such as item drops or purchases can be used by any side," Lizbeth replied to Leafa's dread. "In SAO, marrying someone means you trust them with no reservations, with everything you have. It goes beyond just having them watch your back as you fight, as this meant your life and wellbeing is tied to your partner even when you're beyond the dangers outside the safe zones. You can say it's probably a bond even stronger than if two individuals marry IRL."

If Leafa wasn't seated on a chair at the time, she would have collapsed as her legs gave out from under her. As it was, Leafa felt strength draining from her body as she tried to comprehend what Kirito being married to Asuna in SAO meant. From the very beginning when Kirito had come back from the death-game and been nice to her, Suguha had no chance of her love being requited.

"That's…" Leafa croaked out. _That's just cruel…_

"And yet even with this, Liz, you still haven't given up on Kii-bou," Argo said, raising an eyebrow at Lizbeth. Leafa was jolted out of her reverie at Argo's words.

"I can't just make my heart to stop loving someone on a moment's notice, Argo," Lizbeth said in a pained voice. "It'd be a lot simpler for everyone if that's actually possible, but that isn't the case here. And I don't know if I would be willing to let this love go even if I'm given the option to do so. I wanted to tell Asuna my feelings for Kirito when we all woke up from SAO; that if she ever makes Kirito sad then I'll do my hardest to steal him away from her. But first with Asuna trapped inside a game still and now all this stuff with 'Titania'… this wasn't how I wanted things to turn out," Lizbeth said angrily. "Even if one of us can now somehow replace Asuna as Kirito's partner to comfort him, I'd never forgive myself if it happened like that. There's no point in winning like this if Asuna doesn't accept it."

"Lizbeth-san…" Silica began to speak, though she was unsure of how to phrase her feelings. "I… I'm jealous of that resolve. I want to be with Kirito-san too, but I don't have the determination to be willing to fight for it. Especially if it might mean losing what I have now with Kirito-san too. I don't think I can handle that."

Two sets of eyes focused upon Leafa, wordlessly asking her: _And what do you feel?_

Leafa bit her lips, and looked away. Then, seeing how Yui stared at her with a reserved expression, Leafa turned away once more. The honest answer would be that regardless as Leafa, a Sylph swordswoman, or as Kirigaya Suguha, her heart was unwilling to let Kirito go. Leafa also knew that it was unlikely her cousin would ever return her affections; Kirito had a wife he was wholeheartedly dedicated to, and a daughter precious to him as the aftermath of his meeting with Titania clearly showed. It was a painful decision, but Leafa had made up her mind:

"I…" Leafa choked out. "I think we shouldn't act on these feelings, no matter how much we might want to. Just being 'happy' won't be enough to describe me if Kirito does end up choosing me, but I'm not going to try and get between him and Asuna. I've never met Asuna, at least in the sense of having talked with her, but I don't think she deserves to have the person she loves and who loves her back taken away from her. I know I wouldn't want that if I have Onii-chan as mine right now…"

Tears flowed down Leafa's cheeks, and drop by drop dripped down to her trembling hands, clenched into fists. Leafa couldn't see clearly through her watery eyes, but she did hear clothes rustling and footsteps as Lizbeth and Silica got up from where they sat, and came to kneel down beside Leafa to embrace her from both sides.

"Why?" Lizbeth asked quietly. "Even we can see you're ripping yourself apart with this choice. Why didn't you decide on trying to compete with Asuna?"

"That might be what I would like to do, even knowing I stand no chance that way," Leafa snuffled. "But it wouldn't be the _right_ thing to do. Some part of me probably won't forgive myself for taking him away from someone else, if by some miracle I end up winning Onii-chan over and he doesn't regret the choice. It's better for everyone if I keep to supporting Kirito from the sides. Who knows? Maybe there'll be someone else as good as he is out there somewhere-"

Leafa's voice broke completely then, and she cried. It was not a wail of anguish, shrieking out her pain – it was instead the breaking of a dam, as sadness and heartbreak flowed out of the Sylph teen. Lizbeth and Silica clung onto Leafa tighter, supporting their comrade-in-love. Their eyes too began to tear up, as they respected Leafa's strength – that though she still clung onto her love, at least Leafa was willing to consider moving on for the sake of another's happiness. Neither the Leprechaun nor the Cait Sith present had the strength to want to consider that.

Argo averted her gaze away from the tearful trio. The information broker might have known a lot of things, but matters of the heart were something the Puca distinctly lacked mastery in. All Argo could do was give them some space and hope for some kind of Good End for everyone.

-][-

Yui watched Leafa, someone who technically would be her aunt if her knowledge on human relationships was correct, crying with a complicated expression on her face. The small pixie girl had decided to stay silent throughout the conversations thus far, as it would have been more effective this way to ensure she could work to stop the other girls' attempts to get Kirito later on without the people present noticing she was an obstacle. Yui was sure that even if she had openly declared her opinions it would not sway their hearts from their current path. As Lizbeth had said earlier, humans couldn't just stop loving someone else in an instant.

_Love between humans is so complicated,_ Yui thought. Realization slowly dawned on Yui that love wasn't as simple as a male finding a female, or vice versa, and them both deciding they wanted to be happily together for the rest of their life. Yui didn't have access to the systems at the moment, let alone data on the players' emotional states, but it appeared to Yui that Leafa likely felt as strongly about the Spriggan swordsman as the small AI's Mama did. If Yui needed any further proof that love was a powerful emotion, beyond what Kirito was willing to do for Asuna, she had it right there. Unlike between Yui's Papa and Mama however, here love only caused pain instead of happiness.

Yui wasn't designed to handle matters of love; as SAO's Mental Health Counselling Program, Yui was meant to deal with issues like cyber-bullying, anger-management, fear of combat – issues that would be common in a VRMMO. For all that Yui had a responsibility to care for the mental wellbeing of other people, Yui was as lost as any other person on love. The fact that the parties in question had their sights on her Papa only further complicated things, never mind how Yui herself was most likely not working at top condition after her breakdown earlier that day.

Then there was the revelation that Kirito had once been suicidal. It would likely take all of Yui's processing ability available to ensure there wasn't a relapse on her Papa's part with all the stress he was under, so she wouldn't be able to help Leafa and the others even if she wanted to.

Their future prospects looked grimmer with every new revelation, it seemed.

* * *

AN: The angst will be dialed down in the next few chapters. This was the main reason why I decided to upload these two chapters at once, to get that over with. Next chapter will have some combat scenes instead.

The first part about Tabitha with cat ears, I blame the Acchi Kocchi series *sweatdrop*. And Vesta's depiction in the Nanoha fanfics _Game Theory_ and _Power Games_.


	9. Chapter 9

Here it is, new chapter. Thanks to LordsFire for beta-ing.

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

-][-

The office of the Duke and Duchess in the Valliere manor had been lacking in moments of peace, ever since an unholy amount of light and noise shook the earth itself. First, it was the hurried reports and headcount of whether all the members of the serving staff were alright that arrived at the office. Thankfully, even Cattleya, the Valliere's second eldest daughter, didn't suffer any lasting harm, and it was obvious the Duke and Duchess themselves were as well as they could be. After those, panicked reports from outside the manor began to come in, first from the villages close by and systematically coming from settlements reaching outwards to the edges of the Valliere lands; the effects of that unexpected event had affected the entirety of the Duke and Duchess' holdings.

Unfortunately, the strangeness didn't stop there, and messengers from the settlements' magistrates, lesser nobles that managed the Valliere lands, came throughout the night. Urgent reports of dark mountains that weren't there before, looming over the southern parts of the Valliere territory began to come in, in addition to how a small desert had appeared over the northern edge of their land. Any settlements within the area of these new anomalies were displaced onto the edges of such areas. A dozen Mage-Knights under the employ of the Vallieres, either Manticore or Griffin riders, were dispatched to both north and south ends of the territory even in the middle of the night. This was partly to assure the citizens everything was fine, and partly to ascertain what exactly had occurred as a result of that incident earlier.

What little news the knights brought back was not good. By morning, the knights sent to the south had returned – or more precisely, what was left of them had returned. Less than a third of them had lasted the night, with the survivors speaking of winged reptiles, dragon-like creatures without forelegs, attacking the knights in the sky. The lizards were swift and cunning, and even magic couldn't defend against the sheer numbers of the horde that had attacked. The southernmost villages had been raided by such creatures during the night, with survivors fleeing north. Livestock were devoured, and buildings were ruined as the Wyverns in their madness broke them apart to reach the prey they smelled within.

Augmenting these reports were the accounts from private soldiers of the Vallieres, who the magistrates ordered to escort the affected villagers to safety at larger, fortified towns. It was fortunate they had done so, as new monsters didn't appear just from the new mountains; many were ambushed by creatures that everyone was sure that weren't local to Tristain. Gigantic wolves, monstrous spiders, and orcs wielding far better weaponry than any of their kind could have scavenged; these were but a few of the new terrors that revealed themselves within the past day. In most attacks the soldiers valiantly fought them off, but always with casualties suffered.

Not just limited to the south, the creatures had appeared all across the Valliere lands. The Duke had also received a letter from the territory of Viscount Wardes, a long-time ally and neighbour, to inform them similar events were occurring over there and any aid would be appreciated. It was likely not just the Valliere lands were engulfed by such chaos, but the entirety of Tristain had to deal with the events.

In contrast, it was unsettlingly quiet in the north. None of the knights sent to investigate the desert had returned; in the best case, the knights were preoccupied somehow and delayed, but it was all too likely whatever was in the desert had eliminated the knights completely. The Duke was apprehensive about this turn of events; scraps of accounts sent from towns up north had only mentioned the creatures that had appeared in the plains or roamed out of the forests attacking the settlements. On the upside, whatever resided in the desert was territorial and didn't leave its haunts. On the downside, the unknown creatures had likely wiped out an entire team of Mage-Knights. Not even the hordes of pseudo-dragons in the south had managed to achieve this.

It was in such troubling times that a retired legend decided to take up arms once more…

-][-

In the Duchess Valliere's private study, which was also a miniature armoury, the Duke and Duchess spoke in quiet voices.

"Karin, be reasonable," Duke Valliere tried to argue. "At least bring a few other knights along with you – to send back as messengers, if nothing else."

"You'll need every combat-capable man and woman in our employ to destroy the lizards down south," the Duchess said coolly as she finished strapping on her armour, a relic from her time as the Captain of the Manticore Knight Corps, "Not to mention sending reinforcements to the towns, or running patrols to hunt down the monsters in our land. We don't have the numbers to spare to bring with me. Whatever is up north eliminated all of our knights sent there – I'm not going to bring along others when I'm not certain I can even keep just myself safe."

"Wait for a day or so for Barkus and his friends to arrive then, if you're worried about the skill of those to bring along," the Duke sighed, one hand reaching up to adjust his monocle. "Those three can definitely handle themselves, at least more so than our soldiers. And it isn't like we haven't trusted them with our backs before."

"Do we even have a day to spare, though?" Karin asked. "Our resources are strained enough as it is, fighting the incursion in the south, not to mention keeping the peace throughout this region. If whatever is in the desert attacks in the near future, we could very well be overwhelmed. We have no idea how long whatever is in the desert will be content to stay in there; we need to find out exactly _what_ is in there, and if necessary strike first to prevent it becoming a problem for not just our land, but for the entirety of Tristain. You've seen the letter from the Viscount's magistrate – this monster infestation isn't something limited to just our own lands."

"That may be true," the Duke reluctantly admitted. "But I don't like how you're heading off into danger alone. I'd like to come along with you-"

"-but someone has to stay here at the manor to coordinate things," Karin finished the sentence for her husband. "And if worse comes to worst, leave for the south to rally our troops. Cattleya may be able to keep an eye on things here if absolutely necessary, but her health and skills are nowhere near good enough to be leading combatants personally.

"But don't worry, Dear," a ghost of a smile graced Karin's lips. "I will be fine. Leonidas would be there to help, and you know how capable my manticore is."

Duke Valliere had to admit Karin had a point. Old manticores were capable of human speech and a few spells, and even the younger among them had high intelligence. Leonidas wasn't the ancient terror like Stacia, the pride of the Manticore Knight Corps, but he would be at least an adequate guard. Even so…

"Promise me, Karin, that if things start to look dangerous – even for you – retreat for the time being," the Duke urged. "Don't make me have to suffer through losing another loved one like that."

Karin narrowed her eyes. "Pierre, my dear, you don't play fair at all."

"As you well know, for over three decades no less," the Duke smirked thinly, his moustache quivering with silent laughs.

A few knocks came from the door.

"Excuse me, milady," the Valliere's head-butler, Jerome, called through the door. "Your manticore is saddled up and ready to fly."

"Good," Karin's expression returned to its stoic norm she showed whenever she wasn't alone with her husband. "I will be down there shortly."

"Karin," Pierre stopped Karin before she exited the room. "The promise?"

"Fine," Karin sighed. "If it looks to be dangerous, I will retreat for the moment and then return later – with backup – to finish what I started. However, I don't think things will ever get that far."

Karin placed one hand on the swordwand sheathed on her belt.

"It's far more likely I'll destroy everything with my 'Tempest' than being forced to retreat."

-][-

Leonidas, Karin's mount, kept a sharp eye on their surroundings as they flew across the skies. The mage seated atop of the manticore was no less attentive to threats, not after hearing the reports of sudden attacks even while airborne. A few hours after her departure from the manor, Karin reached the desert that had taken up the northern edge of Valliere lands. At first glance, it seemed to be a sandy plain with hills occasionally decorating the landscape, but Karin knew not to dismiss threats just because none were visible.

After another five minutes of flight, Karin caught sight of a small village in the desert; though it was unlike any she had seen before. All the buildings were made of some sort of reddish stone, as if each house was chiseled out of one solid rock. There were no aesthetics to speak of about such buildings, with practical use preferred over any kind of beauty. Such a dwelling did the job of keeping the elements out of a living area, and that was all it was expected to achieve.

This village was also in ruins. Doors and windows were shattered, storefronts were wrecked, and furniture was scattered in pieces across the roads here and there. A thick layer of sand covered the debris that Karin could see. The Duchess spent the next minute airborne observing the place below, seeing if there was anyone left. Nothing moved, except for a few pieces of debris shifted by the wind.

"We'll have to personally go down to find more clues, Leonidas," Karin finally told her mount, her voice muffled behind a steel mask. "We're not going to get anything more from up here."

Leonidas gave a wary rumble, and began to descend. The two of them landed without trouble, and Karin dismounted from her saddle. Once on the ground, there was no immediately noticeable difference in the sight and sounds alone compared with above. However, those were not the only two senses available to the duo.

"What can you smell, Leonidas?" Karin asked her manticore. The entire place kept Karin on edge; she felt like she was being observed, but not through something like sight. And the destruction on the debris and doors didn't look like it was caused by magic; there were no tell-tale signs of fire magic being used, such as soot-blackened areas, or leftover rubble that suggested the use of earth magic. Karin didn't expect for there to be signs of water magic left if used, seeing that they were in a desert, and blunt impact from using wind spells wasn't too different from ones made by melee weapons. If sight couldn't give her any clues, then other methods needed to be used.

The manticore gave a whiff at the air, and growled. Whatever was there, Leonidas didn't like the smell of them for one reason or another. The muscles on the manticore tensed up, suggesting the place was still likely to be dangerous and they needed to be on guard. Advice Karin had long taken to heart, always assume unfamiliar territory are dangerous in one degree or another. Part of Karin's mind-set involved not visibly showing that one was aware of possible dangers, in doing so having the advantage when the attack started and the enemies expected you to be surprised.

After a few more sniffs at the air, Leonidas trotted off towards a building a ways off from the main road. Karin followed a few steps after her mount, with one hand unsheathing her wandsword and ready to fire off a spell on an instant's notice.

For a few moments, there was nothing except the sound of footsteps on sand and a breeze whirling past them. Then, Leonidas stopped in front of a heavy wooden door, the entrance into a warehouse, and growled once more. Karin nodded, and directed an Air Hammer spell right at the door. The door was blown off from its hinges and splintered into tiny shreds. Wind gathered around Karin like a billowing cloak as she ran through, ready to meet any enemy within head on.

What she found within the large room weren't enemies. Splatters of blood dotted the floors and walls, and to one side of the warehouse were the bloody carcasses of several griffins and manticores piled up in a heap. Human corpses, those of the Vallieres' knights, accompanied the remains, many of them as brutally torn apart as their own mounts. Karin's grip tightened on her wandsword involuntarily in anger, even as she scanned the room for threats. She released the hold on her armour of wind, to feel the air currents of the enclosed space and see if there was anyone else hidden away. Karin received no response, except how the stench of blood worsened after she dropped her cloak of wind. It was probably what Leonidas smelled when he directed Karin to the warehouse.

As impassively as she could, Karin stepped over to the small mountain of dead flesh. Judging from the smudges on the floor, the corpses were dragged into the room after the victims were dead. Upon closer inspection, the wounds were dealt by claws and fangs, rather than weapons of any sort. Even after years of being the Manticore Knights' Captain, and the occasional slaughter of goblin or orc raiders after her retirement, Karin wasn't used to the sights and smells of such things even if her outward appearance showed no signs of revulsion. The burden of command was such that she couldn't afford to appear weak at any time, even disregarding her own stubbornness in wanting to be seen as strong and fearless.

A roar from outside the door alerted Karin, with sounds of snarls and hisses accompanying Leonidas' fury. A scuffle broke out outside, likely with whatever creature that was responsible for this attacking the manticore. Karin turned and moved towards the door, readying an Air Needle spell and began to rush to help her mount.

Karin didn't even make half way to the door when _something_ skulked in through the doorway. The colouring of the creature was dirt brown, save for its claws, which were gleaming white. The quadrupedal form reminded Karin of a canine, but that was where the similarity between the creature and mankind's oldest friend ended. Where the head should be was nearly a dozen tentacles, each whip-like limb tipped with some kind of hard stone. Instead of flesh and blood, there was an exoskeleton covering it that reminded Karin of an insect of some kind. Even as the creature ran towards Karin, the metal-like tips of the tentacles began to open up, revealing a mouth ringed with sharp teeth behind each tip. With a screech, each mouth began to spit at Karin, even as more of the beasts came running through the doors.

Karin shot her Air Needle at one of the creatures that had just entered through the doorway, skewering it instantly. A gust of wind quickly formed around Karin, deflecting the liquid projectiles and knocking back the approaching Lesser Sand Beast. The spit landed onto a different beast, and its limbs locked up and fell to its knees.

_A fast-acting paralysis poison_, Karin observed as she kept up her barrier of wind for the time being, taking note of her opponents. The various Lesser Sand Beasts began to circle around Karin's barrier, hissing at their prey's defence. _Which explains how the knights had fallen to these creatures; though it undoubtedly was more effective on humans than on themselves._

The downed beast had already gotten up, after only a few seconds of inconvenience. It returned to its pack, hissing at Karin soon after recovery, prowling around Karin's defences. Outside, Leonidas' snarls halted and a 'thump' sound soon followed.

"-Damn it!" Karin swore. From the sound of things, Leonidas had succumbed to the poison. "Out of my way!"

With a few swipes of her wandsword, Karin conjured up several vacuum blades. In a blink of an eye the blades slashed out against the Sand Beasts, cutting right through them like the proverbial hot knife through butter and cutting into the walls. Surprisingly, the walls suffered very little damage. Karin had noticed it when she came in into the room, but the stone walls were surprisingly resilient. When she blew the door away, the stone wasn't even marred by her attack. Even if Earth element was the opposite of Wind, Karin's spells were normally powerful enough to cut gouges in stone walls. That there was hardly any damage done to the walls suggested the stone was not an ordinary material. A few Sand Beasts narrowly missed being killed off instantly, and they fled out of the room.

Karin followed after them, an incantation on her lips as she moved. She cleared the doorway, and shot several Air Needles towards the predators that had begun to take bites out of her manticore. Sand billowed as the attacks landed, and then was blown away by Karin to clear the view. Again, there were several casualties among the creatures, but not all of them had been killed. The tips of their tentacles were once again enclosed by the metal-like substance, and the surviving Sand Beasts began to dig down into the ground, using them like a swarm of pickaxes, and quickly vanished. In addition to the paralysis effect crippling the knights, a sudden attack without warning from below might have also played a factor in their complete defeat.

"Are you alright, Leonidas?" Karin asked her manticore. Leonidas gave an annoyed growl, but settled down. To be incapacitated by poison was likely not something the manticore enjoyed. Before Karin could say anything more however, a screech came out from the border of the village.

Much like how the Lesser Sand Beasts burrowed down into the sands, this particular creature rose out of the same in a similar manner. Dozens of tentacles writhed and burst out of the ground, and its brown muscular body was many times larger than its lesser kin. Though in the case of the Greater Sand Beast, the tentacles emerged from its back, and the creature had an insectoid face. Mandibles loudly screeched out its challenge once more, and a twister began to form in front of it.

"A sandstorm," Karin noted clinically as wind began to suck sand into the twister. _That would explain all this sand covering the village, though I didn't expect the cause of it to be a monster like this._

The Greater Sand Beast launched the sandstorm at Karin. The twister traveled down the main road of the village, sucking up the debris as it went along. In the moments before it could collide with Karin, the ex-Captain spoke her own incantation.

"You've picked a fight with the wrong person!" Karin roared at the culmination of her chant, and hurled her 'Tempest' in response. The two whirlwind collided, and Karin's own spell ripped through the sandstorm with brutal strength. The Greater Sand Beast shrieked in pain as the Tempest washed over it, its armour being worn down by the sheer strength of the wind, and the vacuum blades laced into the spell leaving wide gashes on its body. As the spell ended, the monster collapsed onto the sand, huffing weakly in the aftermath.

"Still alive?" Karin muttered, and she walked down the even further-ruined main street towards the downed creature. _These beasts are more resilient than I expected. Even with my Tempest at only half-strength, it would've been enough to kill any living creature in Halkeginia if it was a direct hit. Truly, these new monsters are a potent threat._

Karin stopped in front of the Sand Beast, her wandsword held ready. The eyes of the beast glared at Karin with hatred and pain from the wounds, and it still struggled to get up even then to continue fighting.

"This," Karin said as she conjured up a powerful Air Needle, "Is for my knights you and your kin have slaughtered."

Without hesitation, Karin drove the Air Needle into the Sand Beast's head. The spike, thicker than Karin's arms, drilled right through the creature's skull and killed it instantly. There were no dramatic screams of dying agony, and the large Mob only crumpled down after it died.

Karin Desiree de la Valliere, 'The Tempest', was the most powerful Wind-affinity mage in Tristain's recorded history, and other Square-class mages couldn't even come close to her strength in regards to sheer destructive power. In her youth, it took only a fifth of the effort and willpower for Karin to achieve the same level of strength as other Wind mages, and that affinity has only grown since then. That said, her extraordinarily strong affinity didn't mean she couldn't cast spells outside of the Wind-element. Mages, no matter which rank, could cast spells outside their primary affinity, it normally just meant a lowered efficiency in willpower expenditure or a lesser effect when compared to spells of his or her specialized element; exceptions like the Valliere's youngest daughter aside.

Utilizing that trait of the Halkeginian magic system, Karin went to work first using a Line-level Earth spell on the sand on the defeated monster, transmuting it into oil. Then, she ignited the beast's carcass with a Dot-level Fire spell, just to be certain. While only undead monsters Karin had met in the past still came after her after she inflicted widespread damage to their bodies and then destroyed its head, Karin wasn't taking chances with this particular creature. She had never seen such a beast before, and for all she knew it could still rise up and come after her once she turned her back. Better to be safe than sorry. In minutes, the monster was no more than charred remains. Behind Karin, Leonidas grunted with approval. The poison had worn off from manticore's body by that point, and Leonidas moved to watch Karin's back as soon as it had.

"We'll stay here for an hour or so to make sure all that poison is out of your system, Leonidas," Karin told her manticore. For all her power in destruction, Karin never learned much of the healing aspects of Water magic. Not for lack effort to try and learn, especially when Duke Valliere had coaxed Karin to pick up at least the basics of healing. The Duke may have been a combat Water mage rather than a healer, but he could still patch himself up just fine if necessary. The same could not be said for Karin, however. "In the meantime, let us look around this village and see what had happened here to cause this place to be abandoned."

-][-

Duke Valliere, or 'Pierre' to his wife and 'Centurion' to many of his old friends, gave a long sigh as he sat down on a sofa in his own private study to rest. It had been a hectic day and night for him, and Jerome had convinced the Duke to take it easy for a moment. Working himself into the ground wouldn't help anyone.

The Valliere forces were being amassed even then, preparing to drive the wyverns back to their mountains. In addition to needing enough combatants to face the winged lizards, there needed to be enough of a force kept in reserve to guard other villages in case the wyverns fled elsewhere instead of back to their nests. Not to mention keeping guard against the myriad of other creatures that had appeared within his lands. The only silver lining that Pierre could think of for the whole catastrophe was that it was good experience for his troops, for when the rebels in Albion finally defeated the royalists and invaded Tristain. Hunting down lizards that could fly anywhere and ignore land-bound supply trains would allow his troops to combat the Albionese Dragon Knights, if Albion manage to get a foothold on the mainlands-

"Excuse me, Your Grace," Jerome called, interrupted the Duke's tired musings. "Herman is here with an urgent letter from Headmaster Osmond."

It took a few seconds for Pierre to remember who Herman was. A courier with a Wind Dragon familiar that had washed out of being inducted into the Tristain Dragon Knights, he ended up working for Osmond. The canny old man used Herman for sending messages that needed to be absolutely secure, and not be intercepted by the Shadow Ops of Tristain. Neither the Headmaster nor the Duke had any qualms that they needed to hide from the Tristainian Crown – or at least, the Duke didn't, while who knew what Osmond had been up to in his long life – but the Shadow Ops wasn't solely loyal to Tristain.

Henrietta's grandfather, Philip III, had resolved to build up the information network of Tristain during his days. For the past millennia, Romalia and Gallia had dominated the conflict for influence under the surface of Halkeginia's politics, with the former specializing in espionage and the latter in assassination. Philip managed to build up his network, but it was by no means a success. Tristain's guardians in the shadows were tainted by Romalia's touch, with every bit of info they receive also copied and sent into the hands of the Pope; it was minorities like Barkus and a few small teams on the fringes of the organization that managed to avoid the Romalian influence. Philip and the monarchs that came after him never did manage to completely eradicate the leaks. Even if the Tristain Shadow Ops would never actively do anything to harm Tristain, any action they perform wouldn't be to the detriment of Romalia. Duke Valliere personally felt that with such divided loyalties the 'official' operatives working in the shadows couldn't be fully trusted.

Rumours among the higher echelons in Tristain was that Cardinal Mazarin used to be one such Romalian agent, before his carelessness led to the death of Philips and now he worked to atone for his mistake. Truthfulness of this statement aside, it was undoubtedly true that Mazarin was used as a decoy for Romalia to work in the shadows as the unwanted attention was given to the Romalian priest who was currently the Regent of Tristain.

"Give me the letter, and go tell Herman he's free to rest in the manor's guest room to recuperate," Pierre said as he shook his head to clear his mind. His mind has been wandering more due to the lack of sleep, and he wasn't exactly as young he was thirty years ago either.

Jerome departed after the letter was delivered to the Duke, leaving Pierre to read the contents of the letter himself. What Old Osmond had put into words made Pierre's heart run cold:

His youngest daughter was possibly responsible for the blinding event that shook Tristain, and summoned a gigantic tree that dwarfed the port of La Rochelle in addition to a city of Firstborns. Even worse, as Osmond probably hadn't been outside of his Academy since the event, the elderly Headmaster couldn't have known the same event had been the likely cause of the emergence of new, and powerful, monsters within the nation. Osmond's words of warning that the Vallieres could suffer a great setback politically weren't understated.

While it was irrational to blame the letter for arriving after Karin had left for the north, Pierre still cursed the fact how Osmond's warning came after Karin's departure. Pierre knew it couldn't have been helped. Sending messages across Tristain wasn't an instantaneous process, it took time for horses or even wind dragons to travel. Undoubtedly, Herman did his best to get the message to Pierre as quickly as possible, while taking the precautions to ensure he wasn't intercepted. All the Duke could do was hope for the best; and once Karin was finished with her scouting, he would be able to make a trip to the Academy and personally head off any unpleasant business if the petty nobles decided to play politics.

While Karin could go in his stead, Pierre shuddered at the thought. The 'Rule of Steel' had changed the impulsive young woman he knew into a vigilant warrior over the decades, but it didn't change Karin's streak of stubbornness or her preferred heavy-handed method of removing obstacles. Karin would still go for overkill when given the choice – or not given the choice, but choose to do so anyway – with the only change from her younger days being to ask questions _before_ leveling the building.

Most of the time, anyway…

-][-

Karin sealed the warehouse up to keep the other Sand Beasts from getting to the corpses of her knights. While she could burn them to deny the monsters their meal, she thought it might be best to hand the remains of the knights back to their families for burial. In doing so Karin used a Triangle spell, combining three slots of Earth, but the end result was still at best a sloppy work. There were likely Line ranked Earth mages out there that could've done a better job. Still, it would manage to keep from the remains from being eaten, at least for a few days when she could send in a much larger force to retrieve them.

After the defeat of the large Sand Beast, Karin systematically went through each and every building to look for clues what had happened here. Most of the valuables in the villages seemed to have been taken by the residents when they abandoned the place, barring large items like furniture that couldn't be transported easily. Judging from the quality of the items left behind, such as the beds and clothing, the village was wealthier than the norm in Halkeginia. Karin pondered though, how such a village like could feed itself without farmland nearby to support the residents; it seemed unlikely such a small settlement could afford importing all its food in the long run.

The most interesting thing that happened after the defeat of the Greater Sand Beast wasn't the sneak attacks from some of its lesser kin – incidentally, Karin dispatched more of those without much effort – but finding a large map in one of the houses. The script – the captions were in multiple languages – on it was all foreign to the Duchess, but it was obvious the map depicted the desert and the settlements within it. Further to the north, almost in the centre of the desert, was a large town of some kind. Karin resolved to make that place her next stop; hopefully she would be able to find out what had caused the appearances of the new localities and monsters once she was there. And while it wasn't one of the Valliere's villages, Karin felt somewhat obliged to speak to the local lord so he or she could send in their troops to deal with the monster infestation. Those higher up in the hierarchy needed to look after those below them.

Not long after that, Karin set off once again on Leonidas. The trip was uneventful, all the way from the village to the larger town; depictions on the map suggested there were other monsters in the desert, not unlike on Halkeginian maps that warned naval ships of mythical sea monsters. Though in this case, Karin felt the warnings were more likely to be true than not, in this case seeing as she had just fought a giant monster an hour ago. The large town soon came into her sight, augmented by the 'distant viewing' spell. The thick walls encircling the city were made of the same red stone used in the previous village; judging by their resilience against her spells, it wasn't surprising such materials were used for fortification. Karin was more surprised that they could afford to use the stones for normal housing. Sentries in unfamiliar crimson full armour stood atop the battlements, and Karin had to wonder whether the soldiers felt the heat like normal humans did – she had already started to sweat plenty in the hot desert within steel armour.

As Karin released her spell, what seemed like a crimson cloud rose up from the city into the air. Karin frowned at the occurrence, and activated her distant viewing spell once more. It was then that Karin connected that the red of this cloud was of the same shade as the armour of the sentries guarding the city – though that wasn't the most horrifying aspect of the rising cloud:

Every single one of the armoured warriors were _elves_. The leading one, with gold-trimmed armour and lacking a full-faced helmet, had distinctly pointed ears. The magic specialists in crimson robes following behind the metal-clad warriors only further supported the conclusion, as they also had pointed ears. With a quick scan at the numbers, there were at least a hundred elves in flight, and all of them had the look of an experienced fighter – and the procession was only increasing in number with more of the elves rising one after another. Looking down at the city, Karin found there were _thousands_ of the elves, and not one of them went without a weapon in their hand or sheathed somewhere on their body.

It wasn't a large town; it was a large _Fortress_. An entire city of armed Firstborns ready to sweep over the land in a crimson wave, with Tristain already plunged into chaos due to the various monsters that appeared out of nowhere. It was implausible that the appearance of the monsters had nothing to do with the emergence of the elves, most likely being the vanguard to weaken or distract the local defenders. Forget the winged-lizards down south, _here_ was the real threat to the Valliere lands, and by extension all of Tristain.

Karin's heart plunged into a deep chill after she took a look at the direction the elves were flying in – west. Towards the capital of the country, Tristainia. Towards the Tristain Academy of Magic.

_Eleanor. Louise._

Karin gritted her teeth. This was exactly the kind of thing Pierre advised against facing alone, to come back later and combat with support. However, it would take days before they could bring their full forces to bear, and by then the elves would likely have control over everything north of the Valliere manor. Bring anything less, and the Vallieres wouldn't even have a ghost of a chance to succeed.

Karin dropped the distant viewing spell, and began to chant a long incantation, hoping desperately she had enough time to finish the entire series of words. Considering what Daphne, an Vampire... acquaintance, it could be said, had spoken to her about Firstborn magic previously the elves wouldn't be able to bring forth their full strength in the air; therefore, it was feasible to launch an devastating attack first, and then flee before they caught up to her. It was unlikely she would be able to leave without being detected, considering she was probably already been seen by guards on the fortress walls with 'distant viewing' spells or other scouts in the area – any competent war-host would have people watching out for assaults.

The Duchess could only hope with all her might that her full strength was enough to delay the elves' assault long enough for her to return with reinforcements.

-][-

General Eugene was the first to realize something was wrong.

"Scatter, everyone!" Eugene roared out, flying right for Mortimer. The Faerie Lord of the Salamander Faction didn't even have time to grunt in surprise at the rough handling by his brother when the disaster struck. A great funnel of wind, with what looked like see-through blades mixed within, scythed through the squadron. Only the one-third of the players near the front edge of the group was spared from the carnage, everyone else was dragged into the sudden assault. Armour was torn off by the gale, and the vacuum blades sliced through armour and robes alike. The less said about the state of the 'civilians' of the convoy, the better – their clothing was even less protective than the armour available to Mortimer's guards. Metaphysical flames, the Remain Lights, stayed in place of those who were killed by the attack, unmoved by the raging storm. Screams of fright and pain were audible, even as the roar of the wind overwhelmed nearly all other sounds. The screams only intensified as the funnel travelled downwards, towards the rest of Gatan.

"Everyone, get into a building NOW!"

Similar commands were frantically given out below, and bottlenecks happened in almost every doorway in the area with people trying to push inside the nearest shelter available. Others, seeing there was no way they'd get inside a building in time, instead chose to flee by activating their wings and fly as far away from the storm as possible. Many were unfortunate enough to be sucked up by the wind that descended like the wrath of the heavens, and shredded in the same manner who suffered a direct hit above the city. Only a few of those that had taken flight had survived to understand how foolish their choice was, when it have easily turned out otherwise.

Then, the storm landed, tearing through an entire district within the city. An astounding crash rang out upon impact, dust and sand was swept up into the cyclone that devastated the Capital of the Salamanders. Buildings rattled under the onslaught of the gale, and the vacuum blades pounded the red walls of Gatan's buildings. Less than half a minute had passed since the onset of the storm, and there were still many ALO players out on the gathering grounds. Scarlet flames dotted the field, casting a ghostly luminescence in the shade of the sand-laden storm.

"Holy _Shit_," the Puca that survived among the convoy in the air spoke, with terrified fascination at this turn of events. Everyone else there was too stunned at the awe-inspiring destruction to do anything other than silently agree with the crude statement.

That captivation was soon shattered however, following the collapse of one of the buildings below. Even though the varying structures were no longer Immortal Objects, they were still quite resilient. That the storm was capable of reducing even those into rubble heightened the fear of every player in Gatan; even if they're not watching from above, the players below could hear the sound of the red stone breaking apart. New Remain Lights soon joined the ones on the field.

"And this was all done _by a single person?!_" the guitar-wielding Puca said in a high-pitched voice hysterically. Eugene and Mortimer followed his gaze, and they saw at the narrow end of the funnel there was indeed a small dot; that of an armoured figure directing the storm at Gatan sitting upon a manticore, a mythical beast that they was sure wasn't in ALO. "Oh man, _we're fucked. We're all well and truly **fucked**-!_"

_"Get a hold of yourself, Saito!"_ Eugene barked, cuffing the Puca up the side of his head. "Work now, panic later! Everyone, listen up!"

Eugene torn out one of the Sound Amplifiers slotted into the Puca's mithril guitar, and used it as an impromptu loudspeaker. "**Saito, speed buff everyone here, you've got the wide-range implement for it. Buff everyone that's revived as well and get them to help. Let us all try and save as many people as we can with the World Tree Sap we have before they fade away! If anyone here has Flame Extend to make the Remain Lights last longer, use them! Mage Team One, before you start the life-saving task, buff me with _everything_ you've got!**"

"You're going after him, then?" Mortimer asked in a quiet voice, even as everyone else hastened to do as Eugene ordered. "I wouldn't blame you if you kill the bastard that did this much damage to the Salamanders, but try and take him alive; I want answers to why he attacked, and we can't get those out of a dead man."

"No guarantees, brother," Eugene said as he threw the Sound Amplifier to Mortimer, who caught it deftly. One after another buff spells were cast onto Eugene by the support mages, making the name 'Blazing General' almost literal, as a flame-like aura surrounded the Salamander commander. "But I'll try."

With a roar, Eugene flew at the source of their current suffering, the aura of magic trailing behind him like the tail of a comet.

-][-

One of the survivors down at the city below that managed to outfly the destructive wind snarled and rushed at Karin. Runic scripts of some sort glowed around him, and after a dozen words lit up, a large fireball flew at the Square mage. Leonidas attempted to dodge, but the fireball unerringly continued to fly right at the armoured mage-knight. Karin was forced to switch from using her Tempest that stemmed from a few mail in front of her wand scouring the city below, to blast the fireball out of the sky with a smaller spell lest she be blown away.

More glittering sparks, roughly two-score, began to fly up from the red-stoned fortress when the Tempest ceased, every one of them an enraged soul out for blood. Though the vast majority of the elves cowered in fear from the full release of Karin's phenomenal power, a Tempest that could level a city and devastate armies, there were those hardy or insane enough to strike out back at their attacker despite the gap in raw power.

The first among those elves that launched a fireball at her kept chanting as he closed in, a vicious scimitar in his hand ready to strike along with his prepared spell. Karin responded with an Air Hammer spell that crushed his upper body, ending the immediate threat. To the ex-Captain's surprise, the dead elf burst into flames, leaving a large ethereal ball of fire where the death of the elf occurred. A quick glance at the airborne war party she eliminated showed a similar phenomenon there. Before Karin could think on this further, however, she had to shield herself against the barrage of fireballs – all at least Triangle-class – that all seemed to be able to track her location. To be able to manipulate a flight spell at a high speed and concentrate enough to guide their attacks into their foe, truly the elves deserved their nightmarish reputation.

_Time to leave_, Karin thought, and pushed the mystery of the deaths of the elves out of her mind. She did as much as she could to try and disrupt her enemies' plans and hopefully force them to hesitate before considering further conflict, but as more and more elves became emboldened enough to strike, her chance of escaping alive became slimmer. Karin, the Square-class mage with the runic name 'Tempest', might have been a living legend among the humans but she didn't believe she could hold off against a concerted attack from Firstborns. Fighting off Goblin Priests and their warriors occasionally or irregularly sparring with vampires was one thing, but facing a militarily trained group all armed with Spirit Magic was another. With that thought in mind, Karin cast a speed boost on Leonidas and prepared to escape.

That boost was all that saved her when a meteor plummeted down from above and almost cleaved Karin and her mount in two. For a split second, Karin's eyes met with a blazing pair of orbs belonging to her assailant, before its owner continued his descent. Not waiting to find out who or what that was, Karin urged her manticore to flee. Leonidas blurred, and Karin was carried off faster than the proverbial wind. The scattered spells and elves rising up from the city couldn't have hoped to catch up to her, even as some of them tried to increase their own speed through enchantments as well.

The sole exception was an elf in crimson armour with gold trim, wreathed in fiery power and chasing after her like a shooting star. Karin recognized him as the one that came dangerously close to splitting her apart mere seconds before. No matter how Leonidas twisted and turned, the elf always followed and steadily closed the distance between the two of them. He had a higher top speed than what Leonidas was capable of with his wings, and he made sharper turns than the manticore was capable of. Karin sincerely hoped the elf was a Champion of sorts among his people, since if all of the elves were such capable fliers Tristain's skies would no longer be safe for humans.

Unfamiliar words came out of that elf's mouth, left behind by the speed he was traveling at but recorded by the rings of runes around him. Twenty-four words flared up with energy, before being replaced by three arrows of fire that were scaled up for a giant's use. The projectiles were launched simultaneously, travelling the intervening distance between the pursuer and target shockingly fast. Again, Karin was forced to drop her active spell and engage the attacks, countering them with multiple Air Hammers; after decades of sparring with 'Centurion, the fastest spellcaster of Tristain' as Duke Valliere was known back in his days, shooting down projectiles while flying at a high speed wasn't as impossible for Karin as most mages.

Nevertheless, the aftershock of the projectiles exploding wasn't to be underestimated. It would've been more accurate to say the arrows exploded after piercing through her Air Hammers, than that her spells managed to deflect them. The penetrative power of the flaming arrows was such that any one of them could have destroyed a Triangle class War Golem, and their strength was beyond her Air Hammers. There was enough residual speed boost left with Leonidas for Karin to barely outfly the ensuing blast wave as the arrows detonated, leaving no damage upon both the rider and manticore.

However, without the speed boost being active, the elf soon caught up by flying right through the explosion without any protection beyond his aura of power. The elven Champion howled as he brought his two-handed blade down upon Karin, and while his sword form was crude his reflexes and flight speed were both beyond Karin's own. Physically, Karin could do nothing except watch as the blow descended upon her and Leonidas, as her body couldn't move faster than her thought and sight.

But then again, the 'Mage' in 'Mage-Knight' wasn't there only to denote the superiority of nobility over commoners. Magic has always been the focus of a knight's abilities, with physical capability also important but second in priority. Karin's strong affinity to Wind magic was such that when she was in an extreme emotional state – or sufficiently motivated after much training – she could cast Wind spells without incantations if push came to shove. The current situation was one such case, and Karin brute-forced an Air Hammer into existence and slammed it right into the Champion's belly. As expected, faced with the arcane might of the aura surrounded the elf and his own physical toughness the Air Hammer did nothing except slowing him down briefly. However, that was enough to prevent the Manticore and his knight's death as the two-handed blade severed one of Leonidas' wings when the manticore barrel-rolled to evade, instead of outright splitting the magical beast in two.

Leonidas shrieked in pain as he dropped out of the sky, and Karin immediately removed herself from the manticore's saddle, levitating in the air. It might have been heartless to forsake her mount in combat, but Karin's own survival came before that of Leonidas' – especially when warning her husband and the Tristain Royal Family hinged on her safe return to Valliere manor at this moment. However, given that her manticore have been neutralized, her chance of escaping this desert alive was grim. Even with her own impressive affinity to Wind, Karin doubted her ability to escape from the elf's wings; in contrast to what Daphne had mentioned about Firstborns being magically weaker in the skies, relatively speaking, the Champion had out-manoeuvred her in every way with his flight spell. Either Karin's associate had been drastically mistaken about the nature of her kinds' skills, or the being that pursued her were so powerful this disadvantage still made him a potent threat.

Upon incapacitating Leonidas, the elf didn't fly on ahead to arc back and attack, but spun around in mid-air nearly instantly at a dozen mails ahead to charge at Karin instead. Caught by surprise at the elf's absurd manoeuvrability, Karin's sudden pane of wind barrier was far weaker than she would have liked it to be. Instead of the elf breaking his neck flying into the screen at his extraordinary speed while Karin let gravity taking hold of her for a moment, he broke through nearly unhindered by the obstacle and slashed down.

Karin's wandsword were severed cleanly by the attack, much to Karin's surprise. She had thought it would have been herself that would be rent asunder, not her weapon, even as Karin reflexively went for her hidden wands on her armour even as she fell towards the sandy dunes below. Barely an instant after she pulled wands out one after another, the wands suffered the same fate as her wandsword with two swipes from his blade; the Champion handled his weapon like it was only half as heavy the two-handed monstrosity of a sword looked, and he kept up with Karin's drop with his wings. Upon removing all her weapons, the elf crushed her right shoulder with the flat of his large blade.

Karin snarled from the pain as the blow accelerated her descent towards the ground, and then drew upon that feeling of agony and channeled it into a powerful attack. Halkeginian magic depended on powerful emotions – while it was possible for a mage to achieve Square class solely by stoic discipline, it was far more common for mages to breakthrough to a new level due to emotional reasons. The 'Rule of Steel' that Karin had taken upon herself were a limiter to reduce her capability to deal unnecessary damage, as much as a chastisement to her own headstrong impulses; now, Karin abandoned those bindings, and used every last scrap of magic she had at her disposal to fight her way to safety.

The Square mage blasted a Tempest skyward at the elf – the only spell Karin could cast without a wand due to her intimate familiarity with her trademark attack – which spread out in front of her in a cone-shaped twister of destruction. Even without a focus for her spells, the ex-Captain was still a force to be reckoned with – as even a regular-strength Tempest from her could be devastating. The elf swerved around Karin's desperate attack, and swung down onto Karin's left shoulder from behind the Duchess. Another sharp wave of pain spread across Karin's body; Karin had planned on preventing a death by falling by a last-second levitation spell, not by a two-handed sword slamming her up into the air like a children's ball being batted away.

"Surrender, or die," the elf growled in a gruff voice as Karin's left arm was also rendered useless in an painful manner. His hand gripped around the Square class legend's neck tightly from behind, to the point bruises were inevitable later on, and stopped Karin's uncontrolled movements through the sky. "And don't try to cast any more spells; I can tank just about anything you throw at me if I have to, and even without that I can crush your spine before I die."

"And what assurances do I have I would not be executed as soon as you take me back to your fortress?" Karin spat derisively, even as their positions steadied into standing positions in the air. Her pride would not allow her to die being chained up and mocked. "Here's my counter-offer: if you don't want to die together with me, release your hand. It takes only a thought for me to crack your head open with a vacuum blade, and I'd rather take you down with me than submit to your kind; especially if it means there'll be one less elf to plague upon Tristain."

"'Elf'?" The Champion asked, his frown apparent from his tone even if Karin couldn't see his face. His accent was strange, too, considering he pronounced it as 'Alf'. "Is that what you locals call faeries?"

"'Faeries'?" Karin repeated that word through gritted teeth, a sinking feeling in her gut forming despite her pain clamouring for attention.

From what Karin could remember, faeries were immortal and one of the higher-tiered elemental spirits of the world. These spirits had sapience closer to that of humans and elves than that of a force of nature running on logic and instincts alien to human understanding, such as the Water Spirit of Ragdorian Lake. Of all the Firstborn races faeries were the most mythical, with sightings rarer than even Rhyme Dragons in the present day. Hence Karin's scepticism of the Champion's claim.

If they were also a Firstborn race like the elves, however, it wouldn't be surprising if they also had pointed ears. Spirits, when angered, could be utterly merciless and respond with disproportionately greater damage than whatever slight they suffered. This was apparent a decade prior when the Montmorency family offended the lesser Water spirits they negotiated with, and their lands were flooded in retribution; this was the beginning of the decline of a once-great noble family, one that back in Karin's younger days working for the Montmorencies were regarded as a suitable alternative to the Royal Knight Corps.

The elves were fearsome, but they still died when dealt a lethal blow; Spirits on the other hand were immortal, and combined with their magical supremacy compared to humans made angering them an extremely bad idea. The power of Greater Spirits was of such that the Ragdorian Lake Water Spirit had a negotiator with Tristainian Royalty over the centuries, instead of attempting to hunt the Spirit down and eliminating it.

And judging from how instead of fleshy remains left behind upon death, the 'elves' burst into flames instead... Karin had the horrifying thought that maybe instead of an preemptive strike upon invaders of Tristain, she devastated a independent group that wasn't guaranteed to be hostile to Tristain. Not all Firstborns are automatically the enemies of humanity, despite it being the most common position held by the various distant cousins of the elves. Worst case scenario, she had just instigated a conflict with the brethren of the elemental Spirits...

Sounds of music interrupted Karin's contemplation, already distracted by the pain; steady, fast paced drumbeats reached her ears, mixed with a small amount of other kinds of instruments. With her neck in the grip of her opponent, the Square class Mage couldn't twist her head around to look at the source of the music. As if reading her mind however, the Champion turned around to face the group that approached them, allowing Karin to see for herself who or what is approaching. To be safe however, he pointed Karin's face slightly off-centre from the incoming group, as if she was a dangerous weapon not to be flourished lightly.

Four-score of the elves' fighters, all of them glowing to a lesser extent compared to the Champion, flew towards her. This time however, it was not the ordered advance like when they left the city before Karin attacked, but a disorganized group spread out like a swarm. At the head of the swarm was a figure in elaborate red robes with gold filigree, and had a grim expression on his face.

"Eugene," the figure acknowledged them as he came closer, and as the swarm slowed down the drumbeats vanished. The group of warriors fanned out, surrounding Karin from all sides. "You've captured the attacker, then; to be honest, I was expecting we'd have to figure out why we were attacked by going through what's left of his charred corpse to find clues about who he was. I'm pleasantly surprised."

"I'm not _that_ much of a berserker, Mortimer," Eugene, the elf – or faerie – Champion rumbled. "I suggest you stay back though, this guy can cast spells near-instantly without incantations; I don't want you to get hurt if he tries something. We're debating just now whether it was worth it for this guy to take me down with him."

"Is that so?" Mortimer said coolly, observing Karin's battered form. "Mage Teams, you know what to do."

Karin's sight was the first to go, as a spell Blinded her through enchantments unknown; her eyes were still there, whole and unharmed, but she could no longer see anything. The Duchess struggled to free herself from Eugene's hold, blasting out raw magical wind out from her in all directions, as powerful as she could have made it given only an instant's preparation. This was no spell, instead merely a crude release of magical power as a final, and desperate, act of defiance; Karin didn't have the focus or time to shape it into anything more deadly.

Eugene merely grunted, his frame weathering the gust without much effort. Mortimer swore and flew backwards, even as Karin's magical attacking power weakened sharply all of a sudden. The Square mage's physical strength took a similar nosedive, though even without that Stat Drain she couldn't have broken out of Eugene's grip. Debuffs of all kinds were afflicted onto Karin within the span of a few seconds, leaving the Duchess disoriented and weakened to the point no matter what she tried she couldn't have escaped.

"When we get back, ask any renegade Cait Sith Hunters in the city if they have any of their dedicated Chains for capturing Mobs around," a distant voice sounding like it came from the depths of a tunnel reached Karin's Confused mind. "Especially the kind that can nullify a Mob's magical abilities. I don't want to take any chances with this one."

Severely weakened, both physically and magically, Karin could do nothing except being carried away as a prisoner.

* * *

AN: I've changed Karin's runic name from the BakaTsuki version of 'The Heavy Wind' to 'The Tempest' for this story (which I've seen another story doing so on SpaceBattles). Both fit the kanji used in the Japanese version, using whichever one is up to personal preferences.

And Saito here is 'SINO', Saito in name only. This isn't Hiraga Saito from ZnT, Saito is just this guy's screen name.


	10. Chapter 10

Again, credit to LordsFire for beta-ing this.

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

-][-

Titania swung her glowing one-handed straight sword in an arc, following up with parries and stabs. Sweat ran down the side of Titania's face, her hair and her skirt swirled in the aftermath of the Fairy Queen's movements. The current GM of Alfheim had taken a break from working on the patches to the cities, and decided to exercise her body instead of her mind. Installation of modern plumbing networks to the Faction Capitals had been completed earlier in the day, though a few minor touches, like a spell to transform the stored excrement into fertilizer were yet to be implemented.

As for her exercise, Titania chose to work through the various melee weapon styles, trying to find a way to defend herself when it came to close quarters combat. Alfheim Online might have been a VRMMO focused on flight and magic for combat, but that didn't mean all there was to battle was shooting spells at each other from afar. Additionally, Titania felt she needed a way to defend herself against Kirito if necessary; with the Spriggan's speed and power, there was no guarantee her spells alone would be able to defeat him. Not to mention Immortal Object condition applied to a body of flesh and blood wasn't completely reliable, as things were at that moment. Weapon skills good enough to hold him off were deemed to be necessary as well by Titania.

After more movements, Titania furrowed her brow. The weapon in her hand shifted form from the handle up, transforming into a katana. The light-beam sword once again cut through air within her throne room, this time in a distinctively different style. Titania didn't base her sword skills upon the ones available in Sword Art Online, but instead on the myriad of different resources stored within the memory of the ALO servers. Cardinal scoured the internet for information to use in its Quests, and while it was buried very deeply within the server it was possible to access the data. Anything by the year 2024 that was publicly available on the internet could have been accessed by Cardinal, though the ALO server alone didn't hold the collective electronic knowledge of humanity. Due to this space constraint, the knowledge available would be mostly to do with topics related to the VRMMO; it would be more likely to find knowledge on ancient Nordic myths within ALO servers than journal articles on rocket science, for example.

It wasn't that Titania couldn't borrow SAO's sword skills for herself; Yui had shown her how to access SAO server data once before, and Titania had memorized the access route to do so again without having to resort to needing MHCP-001's help. Navigation would take longer without Yui's aid, but was not impossible. No, Titania decided to build her weapon skills up from scratch because Kirito would have come across anything from within that death-game – after someone has logged as much hours in a game as the SAO Frontliners did, they would likely know the game in great detail. Especially when the same sword skills were used by both players and Bosses within SAO, if the Mob had a weapon available to it. Using SAO's system-assisted skills in a fight would only lead to being seen through and then herself being cut down, this Titania was certain of.

What she was currently occupied with was going through various weapons and seeing which was the best for her. Weight and leverage of the weapon was not an issue, seeing as Titania made the blade out of pure energy that could theoretically burn through even Adamantium. The handle of the blade was detached from the lower end of her sceptre, and provided a focus for Titania to channel the energy. The Fairy Queen could have created the weapon without using this handle, but for training purposes this would suffice for the moment. The sceptre itself could have made for an adequate close combat weapon, but Titania personally felt it was too slow. Against normal humans she could have been a terror on the battlefield, but against superhuman reflexes the fae possessed she was only slightly above normal. That was why Titania chose a weapon with its blade made of energy, to be able to strike even faster.

The katana danced around Titania, the blade flashing more rapidly than even the one-handed straight sword before; this was mostly because in Titania's mind-set this weapon would be faster, considering the weight of the weapon didn't change, only the shape. However, even at this speed it was still not enough by Titania's standards.

_Faster,_ Titania thought. _Faster!_

The blade of the katana became paper thin, and the various attacks all had shaved off even more time to perform; though technically the blade was practically weightless to begin with, the speed increase came more from Titania's belief it would be faster than any physical reasons. Even with this speed increase however, Titania strived to go further; to slash and stab at not just equal to Kirito's speed, but beyond him. He could dodge arrows or cut them out of the air, it would be no surprise if he could dodge her barrage of light. What Titania needed was an edge that would be able to match even the Black Swordsman's dual blades.

Titania's weapon changed shape once more, this time forming into a rapier. The energy blade looked like a large needle, the blade itself at its thickest only the width of a finger. As Titania struck once more at the air however, she knew _this was it_.

Her speed skyrocketed; that was the only term Titania could have given for her improvement. Her senses, both mundane and system-assisted, could barely catch the strikes she performed, launching multiple stabs within a single second. This weapon form simply felt _right_ within her hand, and her body danced with her blade like a woman possessed. It was exhilarating, adrenaline pumping in her veins as Titania pushed herself to her limits.

Finally, after some time Titania stopped, her breathing heavy and her muscle ached. The energy blade vanished, leaving only the physical handle present in Titania's hand. It was healthy to exercise both the body and mind, and Titania found she did not dislike this feeling of tiredness; it felt like she had accomplished something, even if it was time not spent on making Alfheim a better place than before. The white-clad woman decided the feeling resulted was from finally having a way to counter Kirito if necessary, and didn't think any more of it.

_I need a new change of clothes_, Titania thought as she reattached the handle back to her sceptre. More clothing could be created by the administrator console later, but first and foremost would be to clean herself up. _The Yggdrasil Citadel is also in its final stages of being modified. I'll make do with the showers present for the moment, but maybe the bathhouse up above when finished would be a good way to relax-_

Titania paused, incredulous at her own urges. Did she seriously just contemplate wasting time on petty luxuries? She must have been more tired than she thought. Her body of flesh was playing with her exhausted mind, that had to be it. Maybe exercising to this extent wasn't a good idea after all.

Any further thought on this topic was cut short by a request submitted by one of the Faction Leaders; Mortimer, of the Salamander's Faction. The fact Nishida had passed it along instead of handling this himself suggested this was a serious matter. With a mental shrug, Titania opened up the message, and the text appeared on a floating screen in front of her.

What the message contained made Titania inhale sharply.

Gatan was attacked, hundreds of players couldn't be revived in time, widespread panic, and substantial damage was done to the Faction Capital's buildings – and only one mage was responsible for all of this.

The euphoria from exercising earlier had vanished from Titania, replaced by a cold feeling of dread. The Fairy Queen had been confident whatever the locals could have brought against Alfheim, the players could have handled them; this view was reinforced by Kirito's report on what happened at the Tristain Academy of Magic. In retrospect, this belief may have been a mistake; there were no reason to believe fear from sheltered teenagers and academics would have held true to every one of the local inhabitants. A few scattered reports from officials stationed in Sondref and Sylvain noting local authorities fleeing upon the sight of the faeries also couldn't be used as a basis of generalizing the reaction to the entire nation, strictly speaking. Additionally, the mages of the Academy hadn't shown how capable their spells were during any of the visits there by the ALO players; any one of the instructors there could have easily been just as much of a menace as the captured mage in Gatan, except they were biding their time as Osmond tentatively dug for information.

Titania stormed out of the circular meeting room she used for her training session, making her way towards the showers. The sooner she cleaned herself up so her physical body's health wasn't compromised, the sooner she could start repairing the damages done to Gatan and make plans to avoid this in the future.

If the locals wished for nothing more than conflict, as suggested by their preference of an preemptive strike instead of requests for dialogue, then Titania wouldn't limit herself to only obliging them; she would bring _Ragnarok_ upon this world if necessary, with all the resources Cardinal and the World Tree had available to her, in the name of protecting of the ALO players.

-][-

Karin sat in the corner within a small and windowless room, bound in Chains that made her look like her head was poking out of a cocoon of metal. The Duchess' current prison was on the verge of total darkness, with the only source of light being from a crack of the hidden door being left open for air. There was no other ventilation within the cramped room, and if the door had shut completely it was likely Karin would have suffocated to death within at most a few hours.

The ex-Captain of the Manticore Knights had no idea what sorcery was worked into her bindings that restricted her ability to perform magic; her spells were greatly weakened, and trying to brute-force her magic into summoning gusts of wind only barely rattled the chains of varying sizes. That was not taking into account the other measures the 'faeries' – Karin still wasn't certain if they were truly the cousins of the elemental spirits – had placed upon her. Underneath the chains was a pair of shackles restraining her hands that were obviously magical, more than mundane metal, but Karin didn't know what they did exactly. An earring was stabbed into her left earlobe, and the effects of this particular item was more obvious; in the instant this piece of jewellery was placed upon her, Karin felt difficulty in focusing her sight, like it was forcibly sent into a Daze. Even if she had targets to attack, Karin was unsure if she could aim correctly at them with only her peripheral vision left – and she had spent much of the afternoon trying to fight off the mental effects of this jewellery. The efforts used to do so, combined with trying to adjust to the impeded sight, had given her an irritating headache.

Attempts to break out through physical force were even more futile, as the some of the Chains were as thick as her wrists. Her shoulders were healed by the faerie's foreign magic, and she was changed out of her now-mangled chestplate and the battered clothing underneath it by two fae women with hard eyes. Her strength was sapped by the myriad of enchantments the faeries had placed upon her at the time of her capture, so even if Karin had wished to resist at that time, she had no means to do so. In exchange for her old armour, after giving Karin a layer of low-quality clothing for her modesty, the fae women began to strap extraordinarily heavy plate armour made of unknown metal onto her; the armour was only marginally around Karin's size, and it chafed at her body at various places. The entirety of her form was clad in these plates of metal, with a full-faced helm unceremoniously forced upon her head. The ex-Captain still worked out and kept her body in shape even in retirement, and she suspected even without the Chains around her it was likely she wouldn't have been able to stand up with the weight of this armour; no human could possibly move under so much weight, let alone fight. For all intents and purposes, Karin 'The Tempest' was locked up inside a coffin even stronger than her Rule of Steel.

It had been hours since her imprisonment, and Karin had received no food or water during that time. Having said that, even if she was offered food Karin might have rejected them, for fear of mind-altering drugs laced within them. The elves are known to possess potions and poisons beyond any of Halkeginian make, and it was likely the faeries would be similarly skilled; the two Firstborn races shared many similarities such as physical appearance and overwhelming magical might compared to normal mages, it would not be surprising if this was yet another area they were the same in.

Heavy footsteps began to approach, armour clinking as people moved. The door grinded open, and two blurry figures stepped inside the room towards Karin. With a grunt those two lifted Karin up, armour, chains and all, and carried her outside of the prison. A crude trolley, not much more than a slab of metal with wheels underneath it, was pushed under her. Seconds later, Karin was pushed down along a corridor, inside another building made of the red stone that was unbelievably resilient to damage. Judging by the footsteps, more guards accompanied the two that carried Karin outside, with another two in the immediate vicinity and many others further away on both sides of the corridor. After many twists and turns, the ex-Captain was stopped in front of a nondescript wooden door. Her full helm was removed, and after that so did the earring that had given her much trouble during the afternoon.

"Hand the earring back to Darius for me, Tanyryn," Eugene's gruff voice called out, as Karin's vision cleared and Eugene's visage became more distinct. "And tell him we'd be borrowing his Thorn Manacles for a while longer."

"Yessir," a crimson-armoured figure said sullenly as he took the piece of jewellery. After directing a hostile glare to Karin, the figure with a sheathed scimitar attached to his belt clanked away down the corridor.

"Was he…?" Karin croaked, her lips dry due to the desert air.

"The guy you personally pulped the upper body of when he charged you? Yeah, that's him," Eugene grunted in acknowledgment, opening the door and pushing her inside the room. "Everyone else, stay alert. Check in every 30 minutes."

Stony silence greeted his words, and the others present merely nodded. Many of the guards didn't bother with disguising their hatred towards Karin, and it was obvious only their respect for Eugene restrained them from immediate vengeance. Eugene ignored those reactions and closed the door behind him. In the room, there was only a plain table on one side of the room and a few small windows showing the evening sky outside. Apart from Mortimer, the figure in the same red-and-gold robes she had seen him in earlier, there was no-one else within this spacious meeting room.

"Some introductions are in order, I believe," Mortimer spoke slowly, observing the ex-Captain's chained form. Eugene, after he finished positioning Karin, went to stand guard from one corner of the room. "You've already met my brother Eugene here. I'm Mortimer, the current Faction Leader of the Salamander faeries. Would you care to give us a name to call you by?"

"… Just 'Karin' will do, for now," Karin said hoarsely. No reason to point the faeries at her husband and second-eldest daughter immediately, and remove her family's chance for more preparation. And it wasn't like Karin, or Karina, was a uncommon name; even prior to the ex-Captain's rise to fame this was the case, considering how Centurion fell in love with another Karina before her sudden death. Never mind that after her rise to fame many more parents began to name their children after the legendary Captain of the Manticore Knights.

"Would you like something to drink?" Mortimer asked Karin politely, pouring a glass of water for her. "It's not poisoned, by the way."

To demonstrate, Mortimer took a sip from the water he poured; no reaction that it was harmful to him was shown. He then placed a straw into the cup, and placed it closer to Karin's mouth for her to drink.

"... It wouldn't be the first time in my life I've been poisoned by a drink my host partook himself, as he dosed himself heavily with the antidote beforehand," Karin muttered; while it was prudent to not provoke Spirits due to their tendencies to retaliate harshly, trusting Firstborns unconditionally would be foolishness. "Do I have your word - and that of Eugene's - that any food and drink I'm offered are safe for human consumption with no side effects of any kind?"

"For the duration of this meeting, at least, I promise you that you won't be harmed through anything you consume," Mortimer nodded. From where he stood, Eugene replied tersely in agreement as well.

That brought a small measure of ease to Karin; at least the Champion of the Salamanders was someone that appeared to keep his word. And even if these Firstborns had wanted to poison her, they could very well have just shoved it down her throat hours before and bypassed the charade of having her willingly take in poison; that was one difference between this situation and other dangerous meetings, at least.

Karin drank from the offered glass, and sated her parched throat. Moments later, Mortimer removed the glass and set it back down onto the table.

"Now that we've got the pleasantries over with, to business," Mortimer said coolly, and his politeness became strained. "We - that is, the Salamander Faction under my current rule - wish to know who have sent you to attack us. If you cooperate and direct us to the ones responsible, Karin, and after we have verified the fact I am willing to let you go free and unharmed once we extracted reparations from whoever ordered this assault on my city. There's no point blaming only the murder weapon and not the murderer behind it."

"No offense, Lord Mortimer, but am I supposed to take your word for it?" Karin said doubtfully. "I've seen your men showing intense dislike for me; if you let me go, they'll likely attempt to hunt me down. Even if you're speaking in good faith here, do you really expect me to believe you can control every last one of your subordinates from striking out on their own and attack my people?"

"While it is true that the suit of Adamantium armour we've placed upon you does as much holding your magic back as it is preventing my subordinates sinking their blades into you, this current situation won't last," Mortimer commented. "Emotions can't be sustained forever, and like fire it will burn out eventually. Once they settle down somewhat and reparations are made from your side, we can go back to pushing for peaceful relations between the pla- people of Alfheim and Tristain."

"What?" Karin was taken aback. "Your people have been negotiating for peace with Tristain? Why?"

If it was after her attack, and they entered negotiation through some misguided notions of her strength, then it would be understandable. However, going by their words Karin noted they'd been in negotiations _before_ her assault; and Karin has no idea why the faeries would do that.

"Because we wish for peace between our two sides, obviously," Mortimer replied. "We would like to have peace, even if we don't necessarily _need_ it. Even after your actions, Karin, I don't think it's worth open war. There is no need to involve innocents that have no reason to fight, let alone the ability to."

That struck a chord with the Duchess; much like how she felt it was her duty to protect those under her, those that lacked the magic of the nobility, the Salamander Lord's values and focus seemed comparable. However, this was under the assumption the 'faeries' were trustworthy; Spirits might be so if you entered a pact with them, but other Firstborns are not guaranteed to be so. Goblins and Vampires as a rule for example felt no obligation to honour any agreements made to someone that didn't have the same connection to the world as they did. If what she had heard about the faeries are true, beings overlapping the boundary between Spirits and Firstborns of flesh and blood, Karin felt she couldn't afford to cooperate with the fae without ironclad assurance they could be trusted.

"Though come to think of it," Mortimer said casually, taking Karin's silence as a sign of refusing to cooperate. "How common is pink hair among the local people?"

"What does that got to do with anything?" Karin narrowed her eyes in suspicion; this had no direct relation to his earlier topic.

"Humour me, please, and answer the question."

"You might not have noticed, but I have no obligation to answer anything you ask," Karin stated stubbornly. "No matter how great or inconsequential your questions are, especially in light of how you may use my responses to harm the people of Tristain."

"True, that," Mortimer conceded. That alone rang warning bells in Karin's mind, as the Faerie Lord didn't seem even slightly angered by her words. "And whatever you _do_ say isn't guaranteed to be true, too. No matter; the next time our agents in Arrun visit the Tristain Academy of Magic, I'll request them to ask Louise Valliere if she has a relative named Karin who is obscenely powerful with Wind magic. We'll go through other channels of information to get what we want to know."

"_What?_" Karin exclaimed, before regaining her composure. The combination of tiredness from spell-laden combat earlier that day and no sustenance given to her had slightly cracked the Duchess' discipline. The fact her youngest daughter's name was mentioned only exacerbated the impact. "What business do your people have at the Academy?"

"To rephrase your own words, we have no obligation to answer your questions," Mortimer said with a small, knowing smirk on his face. He figured that to some extent there was a connection between Karin and Louise, even if not exactly what it was. "And thus far you haven't demonstrated that there would be any value in giving you anything important. It would be pointless to explain the greater scheme of things to someone unimportant, a mere tool of whoever is higher up in the hierarchy.

"How about this, Karin?" Mortimer's reptilian smile widened. "'Give and take'. You have information I want, and it is likely I hold the same. Unlike you however, I can find out what I want to know elsewhere – such as that small girl named Louise; whereas if you decline to answer you'll be left to rot in a cell for the time being. Depending on how the peace-talks go, you'll either be ransomed back to the local authorities eventually, or be the first life we take as the opening ceremony if war erupts between our two sides. Your choice, Karin."

Karin refrained from making several comments about Mortimer that were unbefitting of nobility, no matter how powerful or petty they were - he was _threatening one of her daughters_, even if Mortimer might not know it now. Lashing out in anger solves nothing, as her time in the Manticore Knight Corps had shown. Her feelings towards the current situation were conveyed nonetheless, as her expression tightened slightly and she clenched her teeth; there was no way Mortimer could have missed that, standing so closely.

"Fine," Karin hissed. "I'll talk, on the premise everything you say is trustworthy and truthful."

"There are legends back home in our world about the fae, that they're incapable of speaking lies," Mortimer said, satisfied Karin had agreed to his offer. "While that's not necessarily true here, I personally like to stick with the truth as it makes things easier. You have my word to be truthful, if you give yours to do the same."

"Done," Karin agreed. "Now speak: how do you know of the name 'Louise Valliere'?"

"I don't believe you're in a position to demand anything here, Karin," Mortimer admonished. Karin gritted her teeth; she hated being looked down upon by others, and now Mortimer here was doing so both metaphorically and physically speaking, considering his standing form towered over her as she sat on the trolley. "Nevertheless, I am willing to answer your question first: The Sylph and Cait Sith Leaders forwarded the accounts of their people when they visited the Academy. Lady Sakuya and Lady Alicia Rue were in Arrun at the time when the… Incident, or 'Transition' might be more accurate as a description now that we've found out more about this place, happened. The Neutral Capital and the World Tree appeared in Tristain, close to the Academy of Magic, and it was the first place their scouts visited. Louise Valliere, a small, pink-haired girl, was one of the people the scouts they came across on the way to the Academy, and was involved in leading the scouts to a meeting with Headmaster Osmond.

"Now your turn: who sent you here?"

"I decided to come myself," Karin said, trying to keep a lid on her emotions and order to her thoughts at the many revelations. The Chains around her rattled slightly, and not because of her movement in the armour. At that point, if the faeries did proceed to ask her daughter about her then her identity would be revealed; might as well let it out into the open now. "I am Duchess Karin Desiree de la Valliere, and upon the failure of the mage-knights to return and report about the sudden appearance of this desert after we'd sent them in, I decided to investigate personally."

The two of them exchanged information slowly, neither side giving everything but whatever they said appeared true, at least on the surface. Among other things, Karin found out about the faerie settlements and their World Tree somehow being displaced into Tristain. Mortimer was given Karin's relation to Louise, and a general idea of hostile attacks from what the Salamander Lord called 'Mobs'.

"I see," Mortimer finally said, after the exchange dwindled to a halt. "Well, at least Sakuya will be happy to hear this wasn't a deliberate attack from the Tristianian Crown; continuing peace efforts are not off the table, yet."

"So what are you planning on doing with me?" Karin enquired neutrally. "Ransoming me back to Duke Valliere? Or keeping me as a pawn for your politicking?"

"Less 'ransom', and more 'negotiations'," Mortimer stated. "In the sense that we aren't asking for monetary reparations, but for other goods instead. If the Duke – or yourself, Duchess, if you have the authority – would give us a contract for supplying us material goods such as food that is steeply in our favour, to the point where it arguably justifies the lack of bloodshed to my people, I will release you unharmed back to your people; similar deals will be made at Arrun in the next few days between the people of Alfheim and Tristain merchants for food supplies to the Faction Capitals, and I expect anything you or the Duke to come up with to be even more favourable. Right now Gatan needs food for its citizens more than it needs vengeance, and keeping you as a prisoner here would be an annoyance I would not want to inflict upon others.

"However," Mortimer's tone changed abruptly. "The Salamander Faction will _not_ let such an attack on Gatan go by without response, and an example _must_ be made to ensure there will be no repeats upon our Capitals. Monetary reparations will help towards that end, but that is not sufficient by itself."

"What do you have in mind, then?" Karin asked coolly.

"I would like to achieve this by only going as far as a show of force," Mortimer declared, walking back to the table to pour himself a drink. "And not have to do any of the 'pillage and burn' routine to innocents just to show we are not to be crossed. Fairy Queen Titania has granted me 3,000 of her World Tree Guardians as an advance force, both for preparation of war if it should go that far, and to act as additional peacekeeping force in case some of the Salamanders decide to ignore my authority and attack local settlements. Countless thousands more of her Legion are ready to fly to the Capitals' aid if necessary, along with other measures being taken by Titania even as we speak."

Mortimer took a long drink from his glass.

"If things can be resolved peacefully, then that's all well and good; however, if Tristain wishes for war then the Salamanders will retaliate. Even if we have to face an army of mages of your calibre, Duchess, Alfheim can still emerge victorious.

"We faeries understand mercy, Duchess; Titania does not. Hope that we don't have to resort to using her tools of war."

* * *

Next chapter, the Faction Leaders' meeting with Titania.


	11. Chapter 11

_AN: _Thanks to LordsFire as usual for Beta-ing. There's a infodump at the end of this chapter too.

* * *

**Chapter Eleven**

-][-

Sakuya and Alicia slowly made their way to the plaza in front of the World Tree, along with their aides and guards. Not all of the assembled people would be going up with Sakuya however; Titania had made it clear previously only a maximum of two others could go with a Faction Leader to the meeting. The dark-haired Sylph Leader wore her elegant kimono as usual, though Alicia had traded in her leotard for more formal robes.

It was an historic event for ALO players, disregarding the mess that the Transition had created; all nine Faction Leaders had assembled at one place, not to mention the ascent to the pinnacle of the World Tree which was the final goal of Alfheim Online. Even if the reward of eternal flight had been granted to players prior to the meeting, it didn't make the event any less significant.

Not even recent events had completely dampened the excitement; Gatan had been attacked two days prior, which pushed the Faction Leaders' meeting with Titania right onto the limit of the third day which was stated in her System Announcement. There had been an early influx of Salamanders before their main convoy arrived in Arrun, bringing tales of horror as a single Tristainian mage devastated the Capital of the deserts. Despite how the Spriggans and Imp convoys safely arrived in Arrun, that catastrophe at Gatan was placed at the forefront of nearly everyone's minds; any relief about the former was eclipsed by the worry stemming from the latter. Apart from the Salamanders, who had quite a number of people desperate to escape a place that was attacked, most of the other Capitals' convoys didn't have more than a third of their population arriving due to Titania installing a sewage system.

Agil, along with delegates from other Factions, had helped iron out a provisional trade deal between Arrun and the Tristain merchants, and deliveries of food would be sent along to the Capitals starting later that day; so there was even less of a reason for players to flock to Arrun, especially for Capitals that were well-defended like Freelia and Everdark.

The SAO players, especially Kirito, were hit hard by the news of Gatan however. The look of despair Kirito had when he was notified of the development upon Alicia's return to Arrun was something Sakuya wouldn't be forgetting for some time to come; Kirito didn't get messages sent from Faction Leaders to each other, and Titania didn't see fit to notify him the instant Mortimer sent in his report. Added to the fact Alicia didn't get sent the message until after her meeting with Osmond, to prevent Alicia's – or Kirito's – knee-jerk reactions ruining diplomatic relations, Kirito hadn't had the chance to learn about Gatan until he was back in Arrun.

By the time Sakuya and Alicia reached the plaza before the Entrance Chamber of the World Tree, multiple Faction Leaders and their aides were already present. There were a crowd of onlookers there to see all of the Faction Leaders in one place, and they were being kept at bay by the various elite players serving as part of the Factions' main forces.

At one side Simon, the Gnome's Leader, timidly spoke with his Imp counterpart. A plain Business Suit adorned Simon, and though it looked tidy it made it apparent Simon placed more focus on raising his non-combat skills such as Mining than his combat ones. The Business Suit was a set of clothing used more for roleplaying than for combat purposes, with no skill requirements to be able to equip them and had minimal stat increases. He was likely the weakest of all the Faerie Lords if it came down to a fight, and his physical form supported that opinion; short navy blue hair, and a diminutive height. Simon was usually elected when the Gnomes didn't feel particularly adventurous, and wanted a Leader that wouldn't risk getting themselves killed by accident – Simon spent most of his time digging in the caves under Nissengrof, and the only combat he normally see was against Random Encounters.

Sasaki, the Imp's Faction Leader, had clothing much more advanced than Simon's. Shadow-Silk Robes, high-tier stealth clothing, that were wrapped loosely around Sasaki, leaving only an androgynous face uncovered by the satin. Nobody in ALO knew for sure what Sasaki's gender was, as she – or he – looked vague enough to fit either depending on the clothing worn at the time. In a skirt, Sasaki appeared as a tomboy, while in pants 'she' could have passed off as a feminine-looking man instead. Sasaki's voice, too, was of a nature that it was almost impossible to judge 'her' gender by it. All these factors, combined with loose hooded robes that didn't have any predetermined gender roles associated with them, only made Sasaki's presence more enigmatic.

A few metres away from the Imps and Gnomes leaders and aides were the Salamander and Puca delegates:

"And you're planning to let her go just like that?" Pieter, the leader of the Puca faction, asked Mortimer incredulously. The Puca had set his appearance to that of a man in his late twenties, and he wore a conductor's outfit that resembled a tuxedo, formal occasion garb fit for meeting others politely. A conductor's rod or wand was sheathed in his belt. "After she did all that damage to Gatan and the Salamanders?"

"Executing her in the short run might have given everyone satisfaction, but after people cooled down and contemplated what they've done I imagine a lot of them will be horrified by what they chose to do when caught up in the moment," Mortimer replied quietly, speaking at a volume that the crowd wouldn't be able to hear him. The Salamander Lord was dressed in his usual red-and-gold Archmage Robes, and his face looked gaunt from recent events. "Returning her as a sign of goodwill to the locals would be more beneficial, even if my standing within the Faction will fall in the short term as everyone is driven by emotions. Though if she doesn't come up with the reparations we've agreed on, we can always declare war then.

"In the unlikely event I am voted out of office because of this, Eugene has enough influence to be elected in my stead; Eugene has always been at the forefront of boss raids and such, getting valuable material for the Salamanders. Whatever challenger shows up would have to go through him, and I doubt that will happen."

Sakuya shook her head slightly at Mortimer's words as she walked passed him, anxious at the turn of events. Titania's reaction upon being notified of the attack on Gatan was swift, and it frightened her how the GM and the Salamander Faction Leader spoke of conflict so easily in the current situation. That fact, among others, suggested to her it might be an uphill battle to keep things peaceful in the coming days. She joined Morgiana and the Undine's newly elected leader at one end of the Plaza, who were in the middle of a conversation themselves.

"-then the lake's Water Spirit said, and I quote, '_Leave immediately, my brethren, lest you suffer my wrath_'," Thinker, dressed in a plain aqua-blue robe with a mantle of similar colour hanging loose down his back, said with a pained voice. To his side was Argo and Yulier, acting as his aides for the upcoming meeting – though the Puca teenager was getting a few glances from spectators for being taken along by a Faction Leader not her own. The newly elected Undine leader was in the middle of giving a recount of how he got saddled with the position. "It took all the skills I had to calm him, or her, down. Barely. It wasn't easy, especially when at the time everyone was still unsettled from being dumped into a new world that afternoon; it was probably a miracle things didn't end up like the assault on Gatan."

"That explained why Atlanta ended up backing you as the Undine Leader," Sakuya said thoughtfully as she joined the conversation. "So she's staying in Parasel to keep an eye on things?"

"She felt it was more important to look after the other Undines instead of meeting Titania," Thinker replied. "I'm basically a glorified messenger for her in this case; once things have settled down I'm likely to be forced into retiring from this position one way or another. The reason I'm here instead of her was in case something goes wrong in this meeting of Faction Leaders; Atlanta believes by sending someone else here, instead of coming herself, means there'll still be someone left in Parasel to pick up the pieces if things do end up going bad."

"Can't blame a girl for looking out for her own people," Morgiana shrugged. "Who else are we missing for this meeting?"

"Just Rufus," Sakuya said as she scanned the people present in the plaza. Kirito and Yui had already gone up earlier that morning to prepare for their arrival, according to the Furinkazan guild that had met up with him the previous evening. "Though judging from what I've heard of him, it isn't like him to be tardy."

"It's not time for the appointment yet though," Thinker pointed out. "He still has time…"

The words in Thinker's mouth died as a hubbub rose from the crowds surrounding the plaza. A smattering of warriors from all Factions were tasked to keep the spectators away from the Leaders themselves just in case something happened, and judging by their inaction towards the source of the noise it appeared Rufus had finally arrived. The visage of the Leprechaun Leader however, reduced the other Leaders' conversations into jaw-dropping muteness.

"Rufus, man," Morgiana was the first to put word to her thoughts. "… What happened to your hair?"

The Leprechaun Faction Leader, a man who appeared slightly older than Sakuya, wore extravagant brown robes with gold trim in a similar style to that of Mortimer's. Each of his fingers had several rings on them, of various designs, all made of Enchanted Gold. A necklace of the same material was around Rufus' neck, with an eclectic selection of five pendants on them.

The most eye-catching part of Rufus however, was how his hair had been styled into dreadlocks. Dark hairs hung in thick strands off of the Leprechaun leader's head, with even more gold rings braided into his strands. Every strand had a few rings in it, braided periodically along it, and was of a noticeably higher quality than the ones upon Rufus' hands, with more intricate designs or rarer gems set within them.

"Damn, man, I knew you liked your bling, but was it necessary to show it all off like this?" Morgiana said with amazement as she examined the pieces of jewellery one by one. "If you wore this much gold back in ALO I might have personally hunted you down for your loot."

"It's _because_ we're no longer in-game that I can equip all of these masterpieces at once," Rufus replied smugly, spreading his arms out wide. "ALO has a cap on the number of jewellery you can equip at a time, but that isn't present as things are now. And wearing all of these isn't just to show my wealth, either; every one of these rings I have on me has some kind of passive stat buffs on them, 'STR+5' and such, enough for me to match anyone except maybe you and Eugene. Without the cap, I think all of these boosts stack up into something fearsome to be on the wrong side of."

"And that's not taking into account the extra effects Empathic Items give you," Mortimer eyed Rufus warily, "With all that you have on you right now, I can see at least status immunity to everything and maximised critical hits… and that's just the tip of the iceberg. I presume you've 'Mastered' the 'Empathic Items' skill as well?"

"Obviously," Rufus kept his smug grin on his face, "Over half of all these little beauties I have on me have a 'Limit Break' on them – some even have more than one of those. I think I've got enough firepower on me to solo the Grand Quest if I have to; no wonder there was a cap on the number of jewellery you can use at one time back in ALO, all these combined are literally Gamebreaking."

"Overkill much?" Morgiana shook her head. "Careful there Rufus, you might end up making yourself a target one of these days."

"We're all targets already, in case you missed the memo on what happened to Gatan," Rufus shrugged. "The locals aren't exactly friendly. Besides, there's no way I'm going to come within 50 metres of the infamous 'Shadow Spearwoman' herself without the means to defend myself. Consider it a compliment to your skills if you want, Morgiana-san."

Further discussion was interrupted by the sound of stone slabs grating together from high up within the Entrance Chamber. Added to that, the sounds of wings being activated and descending were also audible.

"Guess it's time," Mortimer said nonchalantly. "Let's go."

The Salamanders took the lead in entering the World Tree as the various Faction Leaders filed in. The crowd of onlookers pushed forward to try and get a better view, and the guards present grudgingly gave ground until people were on the threshold of the World Tree gates. More than once however, an overly enthusiastic player would get prodded back as they got too close to the guards.

The Entrance Chamber had been cleared of other players for the event, and only the Faction Leaders and their aides were there within the vast room below. Above them, the old man in white robes Sakuya recognized as Nishida levitated towards them slowly on his white wings, surrounded by four of the World Tree Guardians.

"Hello, everyone," Nishida said with a small smile as he landed. "So all the Faction Leaders are here, then?"

Various murmurs of confirmation came from the group, the faeries showing signs of wariness at the Guardians' presence – the players hadn't quite got used to how the white constructs were not hostile towards others within the Entrance Chamber.

"Just to be sure, would everyone please summon their Medallions?" Nishida asked.

Sakuya did so, along with Alicia, Mortimer and the others. Upon a silent command from Nishida, each of the Medallions glowed with the colour of their Faction briefly, before flashing white once.

"Very good," Nishida said, "before we go up however, I'd like to remind people here many of the things spoken above would be confidential. If you cannot keep the details of what's said in this meeting to yourselves, I am going to have to ask for you to stay behind, unfortunately."

A glance to the side from Sakuya showed none of the Faction Leaders declining to go up with Nishida's reveal. Then again, it wasn't like none of them had secrets, such as the forces and assets they held in reserve from the other Leaders if nothing else. Requesting for details to be kept confidential wouldn't be a difficult thing for them to do.

"If there isn't anything else, we can go up now," Nishida said, reactivating his wings. The entourage flew slowly upwards, with Simon and a few aides looking nervously around them as they did so. Sakuya could admit to herself that she was feeling a bit tense as well; the last time anyone flew up so high in the room was swamped by the World Tree Guardians. Contrary to their worst fears however, everyone made it to the stone entrance above without incident. Upon moving past the entrance, Sakuya landed onto the marble floor. Soon after the four panels that sealed the entrance began to extend out, closing the door behind them with a loud thud.

"On this level is the equivalent of the Faerie Lord's Mansion for Arrun," Nishida said, as he moved down one of the spacious corridors that lead to the entrance. The style of the level seemed to be predominantly made of wood, with marble reserved for the floor or other important places. "Once the SAO players are released from this level here, all of you here are free to use the facilities as you wish when the meeting is over. Every function available to you back at your Capitals has an equivalent here, among other add-ons. Luxuries such as hot water baths and dependable fridges are accessible here, taking into account that there have been some failures with these items outside the World Tree. Hopefully that should help ease some of the burden of your responsibilities…"

Alicia, Sakuya and Morgiana shared a look between them amidst the interested murmurs from the other assembled ALO players, while Thinker's group did the same among themselves. With the first food delivery scheduled to arrive in Arrun that afternoon, after the meeting with Titania, the problem of feeding everyone being no longer an issue; the main reason for keeping the SAO players isolated would soon disappear. Titania agreed to let the SAO players go, as even in the worst case scenario of the SAO players being unruly, the GM believed the 60,000+ ALO players will have some way to deal with it themselves.

"The maps of this level are accessible to those with the clearance to visit the Faerie Lord's Mansion, through the Medallions," Nishida went on to say, taking a turn at an intersection. "Everything potentially dangerous or classified has been shifted by Titania-san onto other levels, so the Leaders have free reign over this section of the World Tree. The only place with World Tree Guardians here will be the escalator; in case someone tries force their way upwards without invitation, and they won't move past where they are stationed."

The group came to a halt at a large circular room, with statuesque World Tree Guardians lining the walls. Unlike the ones the Sylphs and Cait Siths fought however, these Guardians didn't just arm themselves with two-handed swords and bows, but also spears, shields, and a myriad of other weapons. At the centre of the room was a short marble column, with a panel of different icons on it and a circular indent in the middle of the panel.

"This room's the escalator," Nishida said, somewhat needlessly considering the number of Guardians around them. He materialized his own Medallion, and stretched the necklace with it out so it could be placed into the indent. The moment it was done the ground shook, and the column levitated up along with the majority of the floor, leaving the Guardians below. The ceiling twenty metres above them split into halves and retracted into the walls steadily, showing everyone below it was made of a marble barrier almost as thick as Alicia was tall.

After a few more icons were pushed by Nishida, the disc with everyone on it began to rise. Levels upon levels went by during their ascent, with identical scenes of spending some time in the shadows illuminated only by the panel of light, then thick barriers parting to show barred doors and a ring of Guardians around each level where the escalator could have stopped. The only change compared to the first level was how the later barriers were wooden ones which seemed to grow out of the walls within the World Tree, instead of retractable mechanisms like the first barrier.

"Is anyone counting how many levels we've gone by already?" Morgiana said with wonder. "I know the World Tree was huge, but what does Titania actually do with this much space?"

"Most of the rooms below are being modified into shelters, in case all of the ALO players need to be evacuated into the World Tree," Nishida replied. "After what happened to Gatan, Titania-san felt it was prudent to have this option available in case Tristain manages to overwhelm all of the Capitals."

"Given what else Titania is planning, I don't think we'll need this particular plan," Mortimer shook his head, placing one hand up to massage his forehead. It could have been a trick of the light, but Sakuya thought the Salamander Leader looked weary for an instant before he shifted back to the thoughtful schemer appearance he normally wore.

"So you already know what Titania has in store for us today?" Rufus asked, with one eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Not really; just some things she has in mind for Gatan," Mortimer said. "Chances are she'll go over those anyway while we're here, so just be patient."

"You're no fun, Mort-kun," Morgiana complained light-heartedly, though it sounded like she was only doing so for appearance's sake. The group lapsed into an uneasy silence as everyone went over what they had heard about Gatan over the last few days – none of it good news, too.

The gloom around them was dispelled as the barrier above opened, sending natural sunlight down onto the players. The disc that brought them all the way up began to slow down, and the panel's glow began to lessen.

Sakuya, like everyone else, shielded her eyes from the sudden brightness. She felt the escalator slowing to a gradual stop before her eyes adjusted to the daylight. The first thing that came in her eyes took her breath away:

The assembled Faction Leaders and their aides stood in the middle of a large plaza within a city that, as cliché as it sounded, came from right out of a fairy tale. The building and roads were made of gleaming white marble, with thin gold veins apparent within the building walls. Tall spires, rivalling those of Sylvain's, rose up from the city sporadically and shone with dazzling brilliance. Rather than glass within the window panes, Sakuya was almost certain it was some kind of crystal due to the way light shone upon them.

"Welcome, everyone, to the Yggdrasil Citadel," Nishida said quietly, after allowing the players some time to look around. "Also named the 'City of the Air', 'World Tree's Crown', and other such titles if I recall correctly – though the current residents mostly just call this place 'Yggdrasil' or 'the Citadel'."

"People actually live here?" Sasaki asked with a pained voice. Sakuya glanced towards the Imps' Leader, and found her wincing at practically everything. The Shadow-silk of her robes seemed to lose their lustre, reduced to ordinary black cloth in the brilliant light. "It's so _bright_."

"Titania-san does, and I believe Kirito-kun might have a room available here as well," Nishida said apologetically, as if he felt responsible for Sasaki's distress. "Though I can see why you're not comfortable here – the place just seems so sterile."

Sakuya concurred; behind all the unearthly beauty was an air of unnaturalness, with not a speck of dust anywhere. The city looked _too_ clean, if there could be such a thing.

"I would normally suggest we fly to the palace to reduce your discomfort, except Titania-san declared Yggdrasil for the time being a 'no-flying zone'," Nishida winced at the thought. "She's still testing the defences of this place, with the entire city being one large magical conductor. Anyone flying within the city limits could be blasted out of the sky like a zapped fly, no matter where they are."

Rufus whistled, obviously impressed at the idea. Undoubtedly, with his eye for rare materials he had already figured the conductor part out, gazing upon the components of the city. "This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'seat of power', doesn't it?"

"Let's just go already," Sakuya said impatiently. The way Rufus seemed to value material possessions over other people's wellbeing was getting on her nerves, more than Mortimer's cold indifference. At least the Salamander Lord didn't verbalize his disregard.

Nishida led the way, down the main road toward tall ramparts and the palace that loomed even taller beyond it. Lined on both sides of the road were even more World Tree Guardians, who alternately wielded spears and one-handed straight swords down the lines. The Citadel was eerily quiet, with the only sounds coming from the group's footsteps and clothes rustling. The Guardians themselves didn't budge even a millimetre in their stance, and there was no wind flowing within the city to blow at their cloth coverings. Glancing up, Sakuya found the entirety of the Citadel was within a sphere of near-invisible force, which explained the lack of breezes. Surprisingly, the air they were breathing in didn't feel stale and stiff, even if the atmosphere _seemed_ tense with the high number of guards around them.

Through the roads, past the portcullis and into the inner Citadel proper, were more stairs that led upwards. After even more twists and turns, at the end of tens of minutes of walking the Faction Leaders finally arrived at their destination. Every step of the way there was lined with Guardians at the sides, and here in the palace it seemed like one couldn't swing a weapon around without it colliding with half a dozen of the constructs.

"Titania-san and Kirito-kun are just behind these doors, within the Throne Room," Nishida said with a sigh, glad the trek was finally over. Despite his distinctively older age he was no more out of breath than anyone else within the group. In front of them was a set of large and imposing doors, with Enchanted Gold flowing across the door in swirling patterns.

"I will leave you people to your discussions then," the old Alf said. "I have to contact the others below to arrange the release of the other SAO players. Excuse me."

Nishida pounded on the enormous doors a few times with one palm, and the doors swung open slowly in response. The elderly Alf then turned away back down the corridor, the four Guardians with him accompanying him in his departure. The assembled Leaders left at the entrance glanced at each other a few times, wordlessly debating who should enter first. A few seconds later, the consensus was to just head in in the order they walked to the inner Citadel, considering it was too much hassle to shift the order around at that point. One after another, the Faction Leaders and their respective aides went inside Titania's Throne Room.

The Throne Room was large; easily several times larger than a high school gymnasium. There were probably Boss fight chambers in ALO smaller than the room, going by what Sakuya knew of PvM. Beyond how imposing the place had looked, the utility of the room being the location for the 'Final Battle' was probably not too far off the mark – going by what Kirito had said Titania was originally a Sub-Boss accompanying Oberon back when ALO was first planned. Surprisingly, there were far fewer Guardians lining the walls than in the rest of the Citadel, with them only spaced out approximately one every ten metres or so. As with the rest of the Citadel, the room had marble surfaces, and was illuminated by sunlight shining down through the large glassed skylights above.

Titania and Kirito stood at the far end of the room, with the Fairy Queen facing them as she stood before the seven-tiered dais two thrones rested upon, with her Royal Protector slightly off to one side. Even as the Faction Leaders took in the sight before them, Titania and Kirito observed the group that approached them.

The Fairy Queen wore a regal white dress trimmed with red edges, which covered everything from her neck down to nearly her ankles except her hands. Along the surface of the dress itself were sections of lace intricately woven over the fabric, detailed to the point Sakuya was sure it could only have been brought into existence by the administrator consoles. An elaborately decorated sceptre was held in one of Titania's hands, made of what looked to be platinum and encrusted with jewels as appropriate. Undoubtedly the weapon was a focus of the highest calibre for spellcasting, not that Titania would have needed the boost. The only other piece of jewellery that the Fairy Queen had was a plain tiara atop her head, with simply a single diamond decorating the simple crown.

Long chestnut-coloured hair framed Titania's face, though her beauty was marred by the neutral expression she wore. Despite that, Sakuya didn't think accounts from Argo describing Asuna's beauty and popularity within SAO were exaggerated. Beautiful _and_ strong, Sakuya was sure admirers would have flocked over to Asuna even more than they did to herself as the Sylph's Leader; even generously speaking, Sakuya conceded she herself would only qualify for the former and not the latter within ALO. If Eugene was a bishoujo as beautiful as the Blazing General was imposing, and retained his deadly martial skills, maybe that would come close to describing the influence Asuna could have held in SAO.

Sakuya shifted her glance next to Kirito; at first glance Kirito kept his leather coat for this meeting, but upon closer inspection what he was now clothed in was different to his usual attire. Full plate armour enveloped Kirito, black metal complete with silvery trim – the set was comprised of a chestplate, plate leggings, vambraces, and so on, though instead of a helmet Kirito had a thin silver metal headband instead made of three layered rings. Judging from the thickness of the armour as seen by the shoulder blades, it was a light-weight armour, perhaps similar to Mithril in nature. Across his chest was a stylistic depiction of the World Tree, in the same silvery lines as his armour trim. The plate armour reached down to his feet, which were encased in black combat boots. Kirito's hands were covered by black fingerless gloves, and on the back of his hands were further silver armouring. His two one-handed straight swords, one glossy black and one the dull grey of Adamantium, were sheathed at his sides rather than on his back. The location where his swords normally occupied were instead a ghostly black satin cape, which looked like it would simply fade through physical contact. Finally, so faint Sakuya could barely see it, but she thought she could see pale white glyphs, the kind that was present when ALO faeries tried to cast spells, engraved in thin letters along the silver trim on Kirito's armour. All in all, instead of Kirito's boyish face making him seem woefully unfit to be a bodyguard, his grim demeanour and stern eyes accompanying his armour made him seem lethally competent.

"Hot _damn_," Morgiana breathed in an low voice from next to Sakuya, appreciation in her eyes as she took in Kirito's apparel. "Is that _a full set_ of Runebound armour I see on Kiri-chan there?"

Sakuya's heartbeat increased, before she forced herself to calm down. Some special attacks and spells were only available to Bosses and Mobs, and the same applied to weapons and armour. Runebound armour was one such case, as it was the possession of a few elite Mobs and Bosses and there had been no known drops given to players. This kind of armour got its name from the Words of Power inscribed onto the armour, allowing its wielder to cast a spell almost instantaneously with the incantation already primed upon the armour. Each piece of armour only held a single spell, as far as anyone knew of them.

Generally, for the sake of game balance not even Bosses had more than a few pieces of Runebound armour. Bosses spamming special attacks, even if those had Cooldown periods, backed up with their monstrous stats generally guaranteed a total party kill within the span of seconds. Kirito's swordsmanship alone was such that it would have taken a raid team geared up for tanking a physical-based Boss to survive him, and now backed up with at least five instantaneous powerful spells of unknown effects it wouldn't be impossible for him to singlehandedly wipe out the entire group of Faction Leaders and their aides.

"I wonder if I can get some of those for myself…" Morgiana mused, unaffected by the prospect of maybe being on the wrong end of that kind of offensive capability.

"Focus, Morgiana," Mortimer rebuked the Spriggan Leader quietly. "You can fawn over Kirito-kun's gear later – remember the situation we're in right now."

The Faction Leaders came to a stop some metres away from Titania, with their aides halting a few steps behind them. It was more a matter of allowing personal space than about security, given the faeries' wings anyone there could probably cross tens of metres in a few seconds – not to mention the spells and other weapons that can be thrown across the distance.

"We already know who each other are, so I'll skip the introductions," Titania said with an even voice. "There is not much time these days to use on non-crucial matters, in any case. This meeting was called by me to discuss how we can best approach our current predicament – though granted, this was before things were pushed onto the verge of war."

"I wouldn't quite say it has gone that far, Titania-san," Mortimer interjected. "Duchess Valliere, while unrepentant about her actions, was willing to pay reparations for what she has done. Tristain doesn't want war with us, any more than we do."

"That's true," Alicia added. "Information I gathered from Headmaster Osmond, along with our dealings with the Tristainian merchants, suggested the local people don't want to fight if they can help it."

"What they want and what is actually happening can be two different things," Titania replied, unconvinced by their words. "Nevertheless, if open conflict can be avoided without extensive costs to us it will be a good development. I will leave the interaction with the locals to the Faction Leaders' discretion, and only step in if things go out of control.

"Which brings me to my first point: dealing with players and local residents will be the responsibility of the Faction Leaders. As long as the outcome is beneficial to the players of Alfheim Online and not against basic Rules of Conduct within the game, I will not directly involve myself with policies regarding these interactions. I am busy enough as it is implementing changes to the Capitals and adding other patches, and I simply do not have the processing power to add any more to my current workload. Therefore, I am delegating this area of my responsibility to you all."

"We're doing that already, so that's not much of a problem," Pieter said cautiously. The various Faction Leaders were wary of letting Titania handle diplomacy at any rate, with her immediate decision to send troops further supporting Kirito's claims that she didn't really know how to deal with humans. Sometimes immediate response with force in kind wasn't the best idea for peaceful relations. "Though I hope this means we still have a say in what patches should be implemented?"

"You all still do," Titania confirmed. "Delegating responsibility does not mean being cut off from all other matters; as Faction Leaders you all will have access to data logs of the changes I have implemented or will be doing so, to a degree. Similarly, I expect reports from you all as well outlining the progress of your own efforts, seeing as they're not a part within the ALO system for me to access."

The situation was formal enough that none present groaned at the thought of more paperwork. Instead, more nods came from the Faction Leaders indicating they understood that part of their roles.

"Failure to perform up to standard won't result in any reprimand from me," Titania continued. "You are elected representatives of your Faction, and I do not have the authority to remove you from your position under most circumstances. If you do not perform well, the most likely punishment for you would be getting voted out of your current position. Further details are within the Manual in your Medallions, if you are curious about the election process."

Sakuya had already taken the time to peruse through the relevant sections over the past few days. If 50% of a Faction all select the 'No Confidence' option in their menu for their current Leader within a period of 72 hours, they could force a re-election to be held the next day. To prevent it from happening all the time, a Faction Leader had to be elected by a majority of 60% of the votes instead of 51% to prevent backslides occurring constantly. As they were no longer in a game, elections will be held once every season instead of once a month.

"Though as I have said, this is the case 'under _most_ circumstances'," Titania warned. "If your actions lead to massive deaths occurring, even with current respawning functions present, I will force an election to occur and remove you from the available candidates for that season. Similar actions will be taken if you have broken the Rules – Faction Leaders will be judged by the same standards as the rest of the players."

"So you're saying if we mess up badly, all we will lose are our jobs?" Rufus asked suspiciously. "Isn't that a bit too lenient?"

"Depending on the nature of the infraction, you may also be imprisoned as a Remain Light at an unspecified location within the World Tree," Titania commented. In response to a sharp intake of breath from various people present, Titania added: "This punishment is also for the safety of the offender – if crowd mentality is sufficiently incited, we may have a situation where the offender are repeatedly killed and revived at the Entrance Chamber. I cannot allow that to happen to the Alfheim Online players under my care."

"We can come back to discuss this point later," Mortimer said, cutting off Pieter and Sakuya's further reaction. "I don't doubt these things are up for adjustment after further negotiation with Titania-san, but I'd like to discuss this between ourselves first before we talk it over with the GM."

Reluctantly, Sakuya agreed to let the matter pass for the moment, though she made a note of this upon a screen summoned by her Medallion. She wouldn't let this topic be bypassed without any action taken.

"The next subject at hand, then," Titania continued, "is about the current situation with Jotunheim."

Morgiana perked up with interest at the new topic. It was no surprise that the guild leader of the Black Hawks would care about the most dangerous – but also lucrative – hunting grounds within ALO.

"Jotunheim, unlike most dungeons and areas in Alfheim Online, has also been brought over here into Tristain," Titania said calmly. "As for yesterday, all entrances to Jotunheim have been sealed by me to prevent Evil God class Mobs from roaming outside of the underground dungeon. However, we have one major problem with the situation below:

"The Jotunns' numbers are increasing abnormally – slowly, yes, but increasing nonetheless."

"What?" Pieter said with alarm, and Simon flinched at Titania's declaration. Murmurs of unease also erupted from among the aides.

"The walls used to seal Jotunheim are Immortal Objects, and for the moment the situation is contained; we are in no danger of Jotunns breaking out from underground," Titania went on to say, unperturbed by the implication of her earlier words. "However, transforming something into Immortal Objects may not be permanent in the long term, and may eventually break down regardless."

"How is this happening?" Mortimer queried, his mind thoughtful instead of panicking. "Surely even with things now being 'real', the biology of Mobs that large can't reproduce more of them within only days."

"Biology doesn't apply when it comes to Jotunns," Titania explained. "Not unlike the Norse myths on Earth, in Alfheim Online the Giants known as Jotunns are said to have spawned from Ymir while he slept during the dawn of this world, along with their stronger kin _Hrimthursar_, the Frost Giants. Jotunns, being often many-headed giants, split apart like bacteria with heads gaining new bodies. New heads may also grow out of current Jotunns.

"As for how this is happening, current observations show the Jotunns have mutated upon coming in contact with native magic – natural magic formed into crystals are present extensively underneath Tristain, and these crystals have warped Jotunns in various ways. Increased speed and possibly intelligence are but some of the traits being shown."

"And what do you want us to do about this?" Rufus asked with raised eyebrows. "Go down there and hunt the Jotunns personally?"

"Not personally, no," Titania replied. "But sending raid teams down to hunt them is exactly what I have in mind. As I have said, the walls may not be as immortal as the name suggests, and it would be best if the Jotunns are culled before they gather enough strength to dig their way out through alternative routes."

"You're asking the ALO players to risk their lives," Pieter said quietly. "Why can't you send in the World Tree Guardians instead?"

"My Guardians doesn't have the attack power to take down Mobs that powerful," Titania said, pointing over at a Guardian nearby. "Their weapons work well on the flesh of smaller Mobs, but the Jotunns' hides are beyond their capabilities. High level Magic or elite equipment is needed in order to harm the Jotunns.

"Rest assured, I will not force anyone to risk their lives against their will. I only ask for volunteers among the Factions, and those willing to take the risk will be rewarded as appropriate."

"Rewarded how?" Rufus asked, already contemplating at what might be given in exchange.

"As you all may have noticed, gaining Experience Points does not work here as it was in Alfheim Online," Titania said. "However, below in Jotunheim this could be changed; there is a high concentration of ambient magic below, and combined with being in the immediate vicinity to the World Tree combat-related Experience can be obtained at the same level as before, if not greater. For the 'Level-Grinders', there is no better place in the current situation to hone your skills.

"The same saturation of magic also has led to an increase in various reagents spawning below; most of the reagents I spawn using the administrator console for some reason have a marked decrease in potency compared to in-game, only half as useful, whereas the reagents below does not share that deficiency. If anything, there may be an increased potency of the ingredients from the kind taken below. If we go to war with Tristain, the potions that could be made with such reagents would be a great asset to us."

"Is that it?" Rufus asked with a frown. "What about actual _loot_? You know, the shiny, valuable stuff?"

"Surely it is more important to care about the safety of the players than about material possessions?" Thinker said quietly but firmly, while Sakuya was beginning to lose her patience with the Leprechaun Leader.

"You heard Titania-san saying the Jotunns need to be stopped," Rufus shrugged off Thinker's comment. "And VRMMO gamers always work better if they have tangible rewards in mind. EXP, potions, and duty aren't going to be enough to get people to sign up for this, especially now that we're in 'Real Life'."

"A reward system could be put in place," Titania contemplated. "The Medallions can record actions within Jotunheim, and 'tangible' rewards can be provided depending on how well players perform. Spawned finished products do not have the same deficiency spawned reagents have – as Kirito here can demonstrate with the armour that I have created, if anyone doubts my words."

If Sakuya were the more distrustful sort, she would have pegged this as a heavy-handed attempt by Titania to silence opposition by suggesting Kirito could deal with the naysayers – Kirito certainly looked imposing enough. However, judging by Titania's expression it probably hadn't even occurred to her that her statement could be construed as so.

"Just asking, would it be possible for us to earn a set of Kiri-chan's armour?" Morgiana considered, rubbing one hand on her chin. "Given exceptional performance, anyway; I don't expect Runebound armour to come cheap."

"Normally, only those directly in my service would be given the best equipment possible," Titania replied. "It's a privilege reserved for those taking up the most dangerous and important tasks available – and Kirito's armour here is as much ceremonial for his Rank as it is for heavy-duty combat. Maybe not the exact same set, but near-equivalents could be arranged for distribution; or maybe a conditional release of the most powerful equipment, to be wielded only in Jotunheim to avoid misuse."

"_Sweeeeet,_" Morgiana grinned. "I think I've found what I'll be doing for the time being."

"You're not getting out of the administration duty this time, Morgiana-chan," Alicia said with mock spite. "Now that all the Leaders are here, maybe you can take some of the weight in running the city off of our backs?"

"Oh c'mon, do I really have to?" Morgiana whined, with as much sincerity as Alicia put in her words.

"You will not be able to spend the entire day down in Jotunheim for combat, anyhow," Titania said, completely ignoring their attempts to inject some levity into the serious discussion. "It is unknown how the excess ambient magic can affect you, both in body and mind. Never mind how physical exhaustion will force you to retire from fighting all the time given the 'Real Life' situation, it is no longer advisable for players to spend hours on end 'camping' at locations farming for kills. There will be time for you to deal with matters other than combat."

The mood dropped faster than it had begun to rise.

"If I may," Rufus began to speak. "I'd like to take up your offer of testing out your spawned items, Titania-san."

All eyes swivelled to the Leprechaun Leader. Rufus nearly all but swaggered as he paced a few steps forward, glancing momentarily at Kirito, before returning his gaze to Titania.

"If I am to send out the notice for helpers, it's only right that I make sure the rewards are authentic. Besides, I am interested myself in how good the rewards are."

Titania narrowed her eyes as she took in Rufus' ensemble. His attempt to increase his own fighting capability by going outside game parameters was not lost on her. "Very well," Titania said. "Attack Kirito as you see fit; though be warned, wearing that many items may lead to the magic within them conflicting with each other, resulting in a catastrophic explosion."

"If it was the run-of-the-mill stuff we craft for selling to others, maybe," Rufus replied offhandedly, tapping one finger onto a ring on his right hand. The ring glowed, and grew into a solid Enchanted Gold staff with a large ruby encrusted at the top end. "But I made all this equipment myself, attuned their magic to my own as the items grew in power; I don't think I have anything to fear from my own creations."

"Should something go wrong with either of you, I can heal the damage," Titania continued, ignoring Rufus' proud words. "Though if one of you is reduced into a Remain Light, it will be up to the Faction Leaders to Resurrect you; I do not have any revival spells in my spell repertoire."

"Eh?" Morgiana wondered briefly, before realization hit her. As a 'Final Boss', it stood to reason why Titania couldn't revive others; it would be plain unfair if the Boss was taken down after much effort, only for him to come right back at the top of his game. Revival was normally reserved for the players of any RPG, to even the odds that the Boss was that much tougher than them. Similar understanding came from the other Faction Leaders as they stepped back to give Rufus some space for spellcasting.

"When you are ready," Titania said neutrally, stepping away while Kirito walked closer to Rufus.

Words of Power floated around Rufus for an instant, before the glowing scripts flowed into the ruby. A large sphere of energy discharged from the end of the staff pointed at Kirito, smashing directly into his chest. A loud explosion rang out, light and sounds assaulting the senses of everyone present.

"Over-enthusiastic kids," Pieter grumbled, as he placed a Sound Dampening barrier around himself and the other Faction Leaders. "Can't even wait for the rest of us get clear first before starting."

Sasaki groaned lethargically; the Imp Leader and her aides didn't look to be doing well in this open and bright space. With an incantation from her, the Imps were each shrouded in a Miniature Dusk that blocked out most of the light for them; the spell functioned as a light filter in addition to removing some of the costs for using Dark Magic. For the time being at least, the Imps were allowed some sense of peace.

"Not a bad idea; did you bring any extra sunglasses, Kana-chan?" Morgiana asked one of her aides, after seeing how the Imps reduced the flash from the explosion using their spells. Kana shook her head, as a larger explosion resulted from Rufus's second attack. The gust from the explosion battered at their clothing, making the edges of everyone's robes flap furiously and ruffling their hair.

The light cleared, showing Kirito's unmarred armour after taking another hit. The Spriggan's metal headband glowed dimly, negating any detrimental effects the excessive sound, light, and wind that could have affected Kirito. Undeterred, Rufus merely hummed thoughtfully and dismissed his staff back into its ring form.

"75% output, along with all the current boosts, and still not even a scratch?" Rufus was visibly impressed. "Let's try something else… **Armament: Battering Ram**."

The invocation caused a ring on his left hand to glow and morph, levitating away from Rufus to form into a three metre long pole as thick as a soccer ball. It too was entirely made of Enchanted Gold, which given the Leprechaun Leader's fondness for jewellery was unsurprising.

"_Speed Boost: Transfer_."

Several different rings flashed on Rufus' person, before darkening once more. Rippling red energy surrounded the pole.

"_Strength Boost: Transfer_."

More rings flashed, along with one of the pendants around Rufus' neck. The air around the pole seemed to distort and grow heavy.

"Activate 'Lightning Imbue'," Rufus said, and the weapon sparked with blue-white electricity in its entirety. "And **_Fly._**"

The pole blurred, and shot forward with a thunderclap upon Rufus' final command. Before the flash had finished fading away from the spectators' eyes, the sound of impact reached their ears. Someone gasped involuntarily, though Sakuya couldn't tell who it had been. The Sylph Leader opened her eyes after turning away from the flash, looking back half-expecting for only Kirito's Remain Light left where the Black Swordsman stood.

Instead, Sakuya found the aptly named Battering Ram struggling against a barrier of light, quivering under the strain trying to break through. The lightning had discharged already, blackening the pristine marble floor around the place of impact. Seconds later, the rest of the enchantments faded away, and the pole dropped down onto the floor with a loud clang.

"Glad to see that 'Shield' enchantment thing worked," Kirito said, cold sweat running down his face and breathing heavily from the tension. The barrier faded, and following that the glow of the scripts upon Kirito's chestplate. "That's it, if anyone wants to attack Titania in the future I'm going for disabling the attacker before they finish firing off their spell and not jump in front of her trying to be a meatshield like this armour was made for. I don't want to go through that again, wondering whether the Shield will hold."

"Do as you wish," Titania shrugged; her expression was unchanged even after the sight of such potential destruction. "As long as I am protected when threatened, I do not particularly care about your methods. Although it is good to see the option of weathering an attack is available for you, even if you are disinclined to use it."

"Well, I can't say Titania-san doesn't make good work," Rufus said appreciatively, as the pole glowed and shrunk back into a ring. Tapping at another ring, the Battering Ram item floated back to Rufus' outstretched hand. "I'll be glad to pass on the call for volunteers. Depending on what's available, I'll probably even come along as rear-end bombardment support."

"You certainly have got the tools for those, at least," Mortimer remarked as the Faction Leaders returned to their earlier positions. "By the way, Titania-san, what about the other Mobs down in Jotunheim? Are we supposed to eliminate those as well?"

-][-

Kirito tried to calm his breathing down as Titania went through a list of what Mobs within Jotunheim to kill and what could be left alone, based upon their aggression to players. He didn't recognize half of the Mobs mentioned, and the other was only known to him by being an analogue of other Mobs he had fought before in other MMOs and in Aincrad. Yui could most likely explain the names further for him, but she was currently down at the room with the other SAO Survivors to check on their life signs.

The Black Swordsman felt obliged to speak up when Titania began talking about the Beast Gods:

"Um…" Kirito said, conscious of all of the gazes directed at him with his interruption. "Can't we just leave those ones on the 'only kill when attacked by them' list, please?"

"Why?" Morgiana asked curiously. "It's not like they can be tamed, right?"

The Spriggan Leader glanced over at Alicia, who nodded back at her. As far as everyone knew, taming Evil God class Mobs were impossible. Argo looked speculatively at Kirito from the back of the assembled players, wondering what he was going to talk about this time.

"It depends on your definition of 'tamed'," Kirito gulped. He felt nervous, more than when he spoke out in the Frontliner meetings prior to Floor Boss battles. Probably because at those times he wasn't geared up in semi-uncomfortable armour that was possibly one-of-a-kind in the world, not to mention it wasn't his trademark black coat. "'Tamed' as defined by the ALO Game Systems almost literally as a part of your character data, no; but if we're talking about 'does not attack players unless provoked' and 'friendly to its partner', then yes, this could be done."

"What?" Surprisingly, Alicia was the one that exclaimed at Kirito's words. The Cait Sith Leader had already started to wonder about the viability of having an entire cavalry composed of Beast Gods, considering their Racial Skill. "How in the world did you manage to do that?"

"Indeed," Mortimer's eyes gleamed. "Judging by your words, it appeared you have done so and it's something not limited to Cait Sith players. Do tell us how you managed this feat."

Kirito felt uncertain in revealing the exact methods right then, considering the almost hungry look in some of the Faction Leaders' eyes. Doubly so since it would definitely bring unwanted attention to his sister, since Leafa was the one that 'tamed' Tonkii. But if he wanted to avoid Tonkii being barbecued by the collective force of the ALO players when they swarmed over Jotunheim, it might be the best way to go about it – Leafa would probably be angry at him if he didn't try to save their friend.

"I don't suppose I get to call dibs on the 'Holy Sword Excalibur' if I release this piece of info?" Kirito asked Titania tentatively. "I mean, this requires the flag to start that quest after all."

And he couldn't possibly call himself a Gamer if he didn't at least attempt to get his hands on something he by all rights could have gotten if he had kept the piece of information to himself. Leafa used a Katana weapon for her character in any case, she wouldn't be able to use Excalibur. _I will definitely make it up to her if I end up with that sword_, Kirito silently promised himself.

"Depends; does anyone else here know what you are talking about?" Titania addressed the Faction Leaders, her eyes losing focus for a split second to access the knowledge of ALO archives. "If Kirito here is indeed the first player to figure out this particular flag for the Quest, I am inclined allow him the first attempt to obtain the Holy Sword. Especially when considering the… complications… surrounding Excalibur at the moment."

"That doesn't sound ominous. At all," Sakuya said in a deadpan voice. "I wouldn't begrudge Kirito the first opportunity, especially when considering the Sylphs lack the relevant information."

"And really, if someone knew about this they'd probably have already either bragged about it online, posted information on Wiki's, or something like that," Rufus shrugged. "I'm all for him getting first go. Though just checking, Kirito here is the first one to find out about this right? The sword isn't taken already by someone else?"

"As of the time of the Incident, Kirito and Leafa are the only two players that have this flag for Excalibur active," Titania confirmed. "The sword is still stuck where it is, even now."

"Leafa-san's involved in this as well?" Sakuya said in surprise.

"Yeah," Kirito nodded. "To be precise, she's the one that got me into this…"

After a quick check of whether he had support from the Faction Leaders for his claim on first attempt for Excalibur – and he did get it – Kirito explained how en route to Arrun he and Leafa got trapped in Jotunheim, and how they eventually got out and emerged in Arrun.

"Well, that explains the near-mythical event of two Evil God class Mobs fighting each other," Morgiana said thoughtfully. "You get raid teams saying they find such things once in a while, though everyone had thought this was just a hoax. Gamer logic in that situation was by default 'help one kill the other, then finish off the weakened survivor' as well; raid teams normally wouldn't just kill one side and leave the other one alone. No wonder players that went down there didn't figure this flag out."

"Never mind that," Pieter said urgently. "There's a hole that could lead to Jotunheim Mobs attacking Arrun directly! Surely it would be best to seal this entrance up as well?"

"I have already done that just to be safe," Titania said dispassionately. "Even if the Winged Beast God types are unlikely to attack, it may change if they suffer mutations like the Jotunns do. I can reopen it later if necessary, when I send Kirito down there to solve the complication I was talking about."

"What did you mean by 'complication' anyway, Titania-san?" Alicia asked carefully.

"The Boss for the Excalibur Quest is 'Thrym, The Frost Giant Lord'," Titania explained. "Going by game lore, he was one of the first Hrimthursar, and powerful, second only to Ymir himself in the underground realms. Whether through contamination from the native magic, or because the Incident had led to faults in his programming, Thrym has been changed. Using Excalibur, Thrym is stealing the magic the roots absorb to sustain the World Tree, for reasons unknown to me. It is only minuscule amounts being channelled away if we look at it in the greater picture, so we can afford to deal with Tristain for the time being before we turn our sights to Thrym. Especially in light of recent events, where we are more likely to come under assault from Tristain than from below us. Ymir yet sleeps upon his throne in Niflheim, deeper below even the land of the Jotunns; the weakened King of the Frost Giants and his kin are not our immediate concern."

"Wait, you're telling us there are even _more_ dangerous things than Jotunheim down there?" Rufus demanded, unable to suppress a shiver. Kirito felt the same way, considering he could almost feel his blood draining away from his face. Others present, those who had been to Jotunheim or knew enough about what was down there, had also gone pale.

"Players will eventually grow strong enough that not even Jotunheim would provide a challenge to them," Titania waved off the players' concern. "That is what Niflheim is for, an additional challenge for the elites. The development for that part of Alfheim Online has only barely begun, but I wouldn't be surprised if the native magic below built upon what is already down there."

"But-" Pieter began to say, before he was cut off by Titania.

"Again, I reiterate:" Titania said impatiently. "Everything below – Thrym, the Frost Giants, Ymir and so on – are not our immediate concern, apart from the Jotunns. Our most pressing problem is mages such as 'The Tempest' Tristain may bring to bear upon us, as the attack on Gatan demonstrated. Only after we have settled things with Tristain, one way or another, can we afford to deal with things below. Tristain's fighting force is within reach of the Capitals of Alfheim, and by extension the vulnerable players, whereas the Hrimthursar are not.

"Speaking of which; let me show you all what I have developed in response to Duchess Valliere's attack…"

* * *

_AN:_ In ALO Rufus is a rear-support mage doubling on artillery duty, but now with all these buffs he can feasibly fight on Eugene's weight class in CQC. Though Eugene and other players at that tier all have more combat experience than Rufus, seeing as the Leprechaun Leader can't handle a melee weapon even if his life depended on that alone. Going all 'Nanoha' from afar is still Rufus' preferred _modus operandi_.

I've taken some liberties with ALO game lore and RL Norse myths about Ymir, Jotunns, and so on in this chapter. The SAO Calibur side story will have its own version in FiF eventually.

Bonus Info:

**Infodump on Leprechaun's racial skill:**  
Leprechauns have the 'Empathic Items' racial skill – like how Cait Siths can develop bonds with tamed creatures for combat, Leprechauns do so with their creations instead. Other players can still use this skill, just to a lesser extent; after all, some Salamanders have been shown in-series to take up Earth magic and Alicia have studied up on Dark magic.

The bond works best for a Leprechaun weaponsmith/crafter bonding with his/her own item (100% bond capable, full availability of boons, three Weapon Upgrades (see below)), with the capability decreases after that:  
-Leprechaun smith making an item for another Leprechaun (capped to 85% of full mastery boons available, one Weapon Upgrade)  
-Leprechaun smith making an item for someone that's not a leprechaun (65%)  
-Non-leprechaun smith making an item for a leprechaun (70%)  
-Non-leprechaun smith making an item for a non-leprechaun; bonding with monster drops (50%) (so inefficient most non-leprechaun players don't bother with this skill; basically the 'poor man's upgrade', where players can improve their weapons without having to spend money, only longer time on using them)

(The above numbers are subject to change; it's mostly to show this skill is mainly for a Leprechaun's use)

Boons are enchantments such as: higher critical hit rate (passive enchantment); Regen/'Battle Healing' (Passive); or free 'weapon imbue', single-elemental attacks without incantation (active, needs activation; eg, a sword turning into a flaming sword upon single-word command).

At higher levels (850+/1000) there could also be a 'Weapon Upgrade', unspecified extra ability (or 'Limit Break' borrowing Final Fantasy terms) that can be customized depending on the weapon or wielder. At 100%, you can have up to 3 of these upgrades per item (one every increments of 50). Alternative to extra abilities is a massive stat increase, along the lines of '+15' when the baseline stat increase for items is '+2' or '+3'.

*flashback to early days of SAO players joining ALO*  
_Furinkazan Leprechaun member_: Holy S&#% man, you're telling me we can go 'Bankai' in this game?

_Klein_: If you ever use that phrase in an actual battle I'm gonna hurt you, Harry.

_Liz_: Eh? What do you mean?

_Klein_: Before your time I guess, he's referring to a manga series where katanas are used less for swordsmanship and more as tools for shooting energy beams or whatever other chuunibyou stuff the author had thought of. No pride whatsoever in sword techniques =/

_Another Furinkazan member_: *Checks manual* Not that it's broken to that extent, anyway; the higher level Empathic Item abilities leads to something more like 'Shikai' from that series than actual 'Bankai'. We're safe from over-the-top showmanship here, Klein.

_Argo_: I dunno, the Leprechaun leader have kept a tight lip on what fully 'Mastered' Empathic Item users are capable of making…

_Klein_: Goddammit, Argo! At least let me have my peace of mind!


	12. Chapter 12

_AN:_ Thanks again to LordsFire for beta-ing this one. For all power-level related comments about FiF, please wait until after this chapter and read the AN there before deciding on your opinions.

_Disclaimer:_ I do not own any series, regardless whether it is SAO, ZnT/FoZ, or any of the other fictional works referred to in this chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 12**

-][-

Duchess Karin Desiree de la Valliere was forced to march down the main road from the Faerie Lord's Mansion, her arms shackled behind her back by the magic-negating Thorn Manacles. Her Adamantium armour had been changed yesterday into a lighter set of Cold Iron plate armour, which allowed her movement but still drained away her ability to cast spells. Instead of a prisoner in Chains at the mercy of the Faerie Lords, she was a captive that walked with her head held high; a fact that many of the Salamanders didn't like, angry looks coming at her from all sides.

As before, it was Eugene's presence that held back the more aggressive individuals among the fae. However, instead of the crimson-clad warriors that escorted her previously, two white Alviss had Karin's arms gripped in their hands as she walked. They were the 'World Tree Guardians' that Mortimer talked about, the soldiers of Fairy Queen Titania. Standing a third taller than a grown man, the strength of the constructs was beyond that of humans as well; their grip actually slightly dented the metal armour Karin wore, resulting in even more discomfort for the ex-Captain of the Manticore Knights. A dozen more of the Guardians accompanied Karin and Eugene, wielding an eclectic selection of weapons, and made sure nobody could rush her if they wished her harm.

The Salamander Faction Leader had left for the Capital the faeries called 'Arrun' the previous day in order to attend a meeting with his peers, along with a sizable amount of their troops and citizens within the desert fortress. Of the 3,000 Guardians the Fairy Queen had sent Mortimer, a thousand of those accompanied the convoy and escorted them back to whence the Alviss came. Eugene's brother evidently took the safety of his people seriously.

Prior to Mortimer's departure, the Faerie Lord had met with Karin one last time:

-][-

_Two days prior:_

"Brilliant news," Mortimer said with satisfaction, dismissing the pane of light next to him with a wave of his hand. Like in their previous meeting, Karin was seated within a set of Adamantium armour on the ground, and Mortimer towered above her. "Titania had finished preparations for Gatan's restoration. With the reminder of your attack removed as if it was never there, hopefully it will quiet the calls for war among the Salamanders for the time being."

"What are you talking about?" Karin asked, suspicious of Mortimer's good mood; whenever he was content it normally meant he was on the verge of making her, or Tristain's, life more difficult. "Do you mean the Fairy Queen is going to send you materials for the rebuilding?"

"It would be faster to show you," Mortimer made a gesture with his left hand, and hexagonal screens lit up around him. His fingers danced over some of the glyph tiles upon it, and larger hexagons appeared in mid-air towards one side of the room.

"This is real-time footage from some of the Fire Elementals that act as the city's guards," Mortimer explained as the hexagons showed various high-up viewpoints looking down at the ruined district. "Watch."

Karin did so, with one corner of her mind thinking the images were equivalent to a mage using her familiar's sight; though a Halkeginian mage would not have multiple familiars, or be able to show what they saw to another party. That corner of her mind was stunned silent along with the rest of her however, with what came next:

Every fragment of rubble within the area glowed with a silver light, and rose up from the ground. Piece by piece, the pieces of debris restored themselves back into buildings, broken walls raising themselves back into wholeness and gashes left upon walls healing up as red dust flowed back into them. From the windows, she could hear rumbling as stones grated against each other, so it was unlikely to be a mere illusion – or if it was fake, it was an elaborate trickery. In only a few moments, the reconstruction ended as if the Capital was never attacked by the ex-Captain.

"So… 'Titania' is responsible for this?" Karin's mind processed what she had just witnessed, even as distant cheers could be heard from outside the building. "Is she here in this city right now, then?"

The person responsible for instantaneous reconstruction on such a large scale and precise level of detail would have been an Earth mage close to Karin's capability in regards to Wind magic. Manipulation of the myriad of materials that made up the buildings and storefronts however, ranging from metal and wood in addition to stone, suggested there was far more at work than Earth magic.

"Not quite," Mortimer said, changing the content of the screens into a map of Tristain. "Titania did all this from atop the World Tree, located here near the centre of this country. Thankfully the power of a GM has not been impaired, even after the Transition…"

Karin's mind disregarded Mortimer's offhand words, instead focusing on the fact that such a detailed work of magic could have been done miles away. Not even Karin herself, the strongest Wind mage within Tristain's history, if not the paramount mage barring the fabled wielders of Void in all of Halkeginia, could have done something like sending a portion of her power half way across the country. Judging from the casual manner Mortimer used to speak of the feat, the power that rivalled that of the 'Tempest' was but a mere shred of Titania's own capability. If the Fairy Queen used that power for destruction and not creation, upon one of Tristain's cities – or even all of them – Tristain could fall overnight without any chance of resistance. Karin hoped that the Fairy Queen's reach was not as far as she think this demonstration implied it to be.

"With this, the physical damage you have dealt to Gatan has been mitigated," Mortimer continued to speak. "Titania has done what she could, even if she wasn't able to help the ALO players to cope with the fear and terror you have struck in their hearts. All that's left is to hope for human resilience in the face of tragedy to prevail, and that maybe everyone will be able to put this behind them eventually."

"'Human' resilience?" Karin asked dubiously. "Your people can hardly be called human, considering the physical and magical attributes your kind possesses. Don't tell me you were a human a lifetime ago, or something as absurd as that."

"To many of us, it probably does feel like a lifetime ago with how much things have changed," Mortimer remarked thoughtfully. "However, it was only a few days ago that we were still humans of flesh and blood…"

Mortimer then told a fantastical account – by Karin's standards, at least – about how the faeries used to be humans, commoners at that, with no innate magic and from a world with only one moon. They played pretend at being mages and fairies, admittedly with many among them escaping into dreams rather than face their hardships, before they all somehow got transported into Tristain through no fault of their own.

"Do you truly believe, even with your word that you speak only the truth, that I will accept something this ridiculous?" Karin said incredulously. It seemed to Karin more like an inexpert attempt for Mortimer to stand on the moral high ground in regards to her attack on his city, attacking defenceless civilians despite appearances otherwise instead of ready warriors. Never mind the absurd insinuation that it was _Tristain_ that brought these fairies down upon themselves.

"Believe what you want," Mortimer shrugged. "But that doesn't change the truth. Ask any faerie, from any of the nine races, and you will hear this account retold.

"If it makes you feel better, that truth doesn't change our current situation; we are here, faeries versus humans, and most likely will compete over available resources for our respective survival. We want to return to our homeland, of course, but I need to plan for contingencies in the worst case event that this is not possible. Tristain has wronged us, with your attack on Gatan without needing any particular reason other than 'because we're here'.

"What use is a call for peace when the other side doesn't seem like they're particularly interested? I find negotiations with hostile parties such as yourself to be unreliable, even if we somehow ironed out a peace treaty."

Mortimer leaned forward, and said to Karin in a quiet voice:

"Still, if the chance for peace _is_ possible and reliable, despite expectations otherwise… I am obliged to work towards it, for the sake of everyone that had elected me as their Faction Leader. I promise you, Duchess, that if you and Tristain work with us fairly I at least will respond similarly. Even if doing so may lead to me being ousted from my current position of 'Faerie Lord', I have no wish to force teenagers that only signed up for a place in a fantasy into becoming murderers. I have no intention of trying to imitate Kayaba Akihiko.

"As the saying goes, 'the ball is in your court', Duchess. Whatever path Tristain chooses to pursue, the Salamanders will have a suitable response ready."

-][-

_Present time:_

Karin was jolted out of her reminiscence as her foot stepped upon stairs. She was marched up them, ending up on top of a platform alongside Eugene, who was addressing the rest of the Salamanders. A thick metal pole was placed behind her from above, between the Thorn Manacles upon her arms and her back so the Duchess could not step away from where she stood. The World Tree Guardians released her arms then, and stood placidly at her sides. From where Karin was placed, she could see a tide of the crimson-clad faeries out filling the clearing, with more standing on top of nearby buildings observing the proceedings.

"We're just going to let her go?!" A hothead with a flamberge roared out from among the crowd. "She messed Gatan up, we should return the favour and mess _her_ up!"

"Mortimer has decided to return the Duchess back to Tristain, as a sign of goodwill," Eugene replied, foregoing the use of a Sound Amplifier he held to shout down the naysayers. "And I agree with him; it's better for us in the long run to initiate negotiations from a position of strength, rather than jump straight ahead to open war. Tristain will pay for what the Duchess has done to Gatan, that both myself and Mortimer can guarantee all of you."

"Well Tristain can pay in blood!" Another Salamander, a spear-wielder, yelled. "You must have seen the news on the public message boards, General; over 30 serious cases of brain injury as a result of her actions, and that's only the confirmed ones so far! We might not be able to die, but that doesn't mean we can't be hurt! They need to know they can't get away with things like that!"

Shouts of approval came from the crowd, even as others tried to shout down that point of view in their support for a rational decision over that of an emotional one.

"**And they ****_will_**** know,**" Eugene rumbled, finally using the Sound Amplifier to make himself heard over the furore. "**After I'm done here I'm heading over to the Valliere Manor personally to extract the price; supplies to last the Salamander Faction for three months, and not including only food. This is estimated to be costly enough to push the Vallieres close to the verge of bankruptcy. Also, we have free reign in regards to Mob-hunting within their territory, and first pick over the Mob drops from the Valliere's own raid teams. Ranging from Terrorantula silk to Wyvern hides, the loot alone will be enough to fund the upgrade of any ten Salamander guilds into Jotunheim raid-worthy levels. Not to mention the hefty price we'll get from capturing Mobs alive and handing them over to the Cait Siths for breeding programs, considering Mobs no longer respawn at a rate where we can farm them for drops the old fashioned way.**"

For a few moments there were subdued mutterings as the crowd in general tried to calculate exactly how much the concessions were worth, going through facts like the area of the Valliere lands and local prices of food products – the latter was from meetings between fae delegates and Tristain Merchants, which Karin had heard they had met the previous day. The overall consensus seemed to be one of newfound respect for Mortimer, driving a hard bargain and making the Duchess to accept it.

"And of course, compensations will be given _directly_ to the players that died once or worse instead of going to Faction coffers," Eugene went on, no longer needing to magically augment his voice given the hushed crowd. "The game system is still advanced enough to know who had died at what time, and where, despite the Transition. Titania will be making that data public as well, so no-one will be deprived of their rightful retributions."

Cheers went up at Eugene's declaration; unsurprisingly, where there was great personal gain involved for the average person, opposition to authority was vastly reduced. Karin suspected Mortimer wrote out the script for the majority of Eugene's replies; the General was never so eloquent during their limited interactions.

"But when you leave, you're taking the majority of the World Tree Guardians with you!" The flamberge wielder called out stubbornly, refusing to be bought by the General's promises. "What's going to protect us if someone else like 'The Tempest' attacks us in your absence, huh?"

The crowd began to mutter once more, though mostly in annoyance at the person that refused to give up challenging Eugene's authority. Still, there was an undercurrent of unease running through them, given that their best bet to countering further incursions wouldn't be present to do so.

"I'm glad you asked," Eugene smirked, which made Karin certain of Mortimer's involvement in the General's action; no-one unrelated to the Salamander Lord could pull off a shady smile like that and still appear absolutely competent. "While it's true I'm taking three-quarters of the remaining World Tree Guardians stationed here and two squads of Salamander Elites with me, in our place would be something far stronger than all of these forces combined."

Eugene raised his right up into the sky dramatically – and conveniently, beyond the sight of most of the crowd he used his left hand to tap at a summoned small screen of light – and then shouted:

"**Rise, ****_Phoenix_**_**!**_"

White hot flames began to gather atop of the General's raised palm, and then levitated high up into the air. The sphere grew quickly, with wisps of fire appearing around it and then added to the growing flames. Heat seemed to be absorbed out of the desert air around the area, leaving a chill in the atmosphere that Karin was sure wasn't related to her suit of Cold Iron armour.

Then, analogous to a chick breaking out of its eggshells, the sphere of fire burst when it reached the size of a small house. In its place however, was not something as infantile as Karin's metaphor, but instead a majestic firebird facing the crowd. The broken shell of flames was absorbed back into the Greater Spirit, for that was the only thing Karin could have described it as. Oppressive heat rolled off of the huge avian, along with a sense of great power. Wide wings flapped once, and the sheer presence of the Spirit surged out from it in an overwhelming wave, with the crowd below flinching back in tandem almost as a precursor to its contact with their bodies. This close, Karin could see individual feathers thrusting out along the edge of the wings, each glowed a brilliant white. As the feathers moved inwards to the Phoenix's centre of mass, they gradually shifted into a deep red like that of the setting sun, except much more vibrant. The crown of the fowl's head was that of yellow flames, and a near-imperceptible aura of blue-white flames swathed the firebird's entirety.

The Phoenix gave a sharp, keen cry, which seemed like it could have cut down a mage twenty mails away. Then, it turned its head half way around, in a manner typical of lesser birds, and looked at Karin with one eye.

The Duchess understood then, at an instinctive level at that point why Greater Spirits were negotiated with, instead of being hunted down by humanity. There was simply a gulf of power that separated the two existences, too large to be bridged. Even as powerful as 'The Tempest' was at her full strength, she held but a mere fraction of the power within the Spirit. Any attempts to fight it would be akin to trying to dispel the heat of the entirety of a desert at high noon, quenching a fire so intense mortal magic could only grasp at the edges of it in terms of raw strength. No matter how powerful an individual was, she alone could accomplish nothing against the Phoenix, the Embodiment of the Desert, and Defender of the Fae.

The eyes were said to be windows to the soul, and through it Karin saw the alien intelligence that governed the Phoenix; its values didn't match her own, nor did its priorities. The Phoenix ruled over Fire and Life, and could snuff out either as easily as breathing came to living beings if crossed; and attacking the Fae most definitely qualified by its standards.

"Given the attack on Gatan, Titania felt it was necessary for all of the Faerie Capitals to each now house a Guardian Spirit," Eugene began to say, breaking the stunned silence of the gathered Salamanders. The Phoenix turned its attention over to the General, and withdrew its gaze from Karin's captured form. "By ALO standards, you have more of a chance soloing a Jotunn than being able to defeat one of these Spirits; I should know, I've tried doing the former myself."

Nervous laughs came from a few people below, though humour in the face of such a presence quickly dried up.

"By local standards, our Guardian Spirits easily are a match for what they call 'Greater Spirits'," Eugene continued. "Such as the Water Spirit in the Ragdorian Lake to the south would be able to drown Tristain under its domain given time, so too can our Phoenix reduce this country to ashes. However, the true advantage of these Guardian Spirits does not lie in their awe-inspiring fighting ability!

"Phoenix!" Eugene called out to the massive avian. "Please, grant me your strength!"

The Phoenix gave a small screech in response, and the Blazing General burst into flames. Unlike when he chased after Karin however, the colouring of the fires this time held more white than red, and tinged with blue at the tip of the flame.

"You there," Eugene ordered one of the nearby World Tree Guardians. "Attack me with your strongest move."

As soon as the last word from Eugene was uttered, the Alviss blurred into action. Swinging the claymore sideways, the large blade swept towards Eugene like a lumberjack felling a tree.

Cries of warning had barely left the lips of some of those below the platform when the blow connected. The General was bisected at his midriff, and flames splattered in the aftermath. Just as the yells turned from warning to shock, the flames reformed and Eugene was whole once more.

"The purpose of Guardian Spirits is to _guard_ us from harm, after all," Eugene spoke into the speechless crowd. "And the Phoenix's Blessing does exactly that; instantaneous Resurrection and Regeneration with no cost to our MP. No pain from wounds taken while we are in this status.

"And also, power," Eugene directed one palm outwards, and solemnly cast a spell with only a single word. A small red fireball appeared in his hand, before it ballooned into a larger ball and unleashed a stream of blue flames in the direction Eugene pointed his palm at. "Five times above what we have normally. Enough to burn away any opposition foolish enough to attack us given our new situation.

"I will now be going to the Duchess' stronghold, seeking reparations that are owed to the citizens of Gatan; in my stead to protect you all for the time being will be the Phoenix and its power. Our Guardian Spirit will rise up against any foe that assaults Gatan, and the Salamanders shall be no more easily defeated than it is to extinguish the sun!"

Cheers went up from the crowd, though to Karin's ears it sounded more like an overwhelming call for war. The Phoenix added its voice to the ovation, and every single one of the Salamanders within the Capital transformed into similar blue-white silhouette as Eugene was at that point. As the single mortal in a den of immortals, Karin admitted reluctantly that the sight of thousands of faeries gathered around her, glowing with power was truly a terrifying sight to behold. Their supposed immortality aside, the kind of raw magical might they held was truly beyond that of most humans', and facing them would be a real terror on the battlefield.

"**We ****_Fly!_**" Eugene bellowed as he and his chosen troops took off into the air, joined by the hundreds of World Tree Guardians positioned around the rest of the Capital. Karin was taken up along by the other automatons, who somehow bound an additional pole horizontally onto the one she was chained to without her noticing earlier, allowing them to carry her airborne by holding onto the horizontal pole instead of crushing her arms. While she was preoccupied with the Phoenix's presence, it appeared they also managed to bind the Chains back onto her so that she wouldn't slip off of the poles. "**Come War or Peace, the Salamanders of Gatan shall be ready to face anything we encounter in this world!**"

Thunderous approval from the red-stoned fortress sent the Blazing General and his troops off on their departure. Karin, restrained and taken along as nothing better than luggage, much like how she arrived, felt arguably even worse than when she was weighed down with enchantments only days prior.

-][-

All of the players within the Throne Room were speechless, after seeing the events in Gatan play out on a screen Titania called out. Like Mortimer was able to access the sight of Gatan's guards, so could Titania with her authority over Alfheim.

"… You wrote all of what Eugene said, didn't you?" Pieter asked in a dull voice. Mortimer nodded silently in response; The Salamander Leader was the brains, the planner of the Faction, while Eugene was the charismatic one along with being the main fighter. "Mortimer, you can be an absolute _monster_ when it comes to manipulation."

"I know," Mortimer sighed, regret in his voice for what he had planned. "This could easily backfire on us and lead to total war; however, better that than a one-sided massacre on _them_ than on _us_. Not to mention this will quieten down the idiots that might ignore Eugene's orders and head off doing who-knows-what, dragging us into a bigger mess."

The worst part was that Mortimer was sincere about it, in Sakuya's view. It might have been better if the Salamander Leader was a deluded soul convinced he was right, since that way he might still be able to be convinced otherwise. Mortimer however was acknowledging all the possibilities and consequences of his choice, and chose his path despite them. It sickened the Sylph's Faction Leader that someone, a VRMMO gamer not that different from her, could make choices like that – or maybe she felt that way because he had to make choices like that? Sakuya didn't know herself, but she felt now she have a higher sympathy towards what the SAO Survivors might be feeling during their time in the death game.

"Your personal feelings aside," Titania said with a frown, as if she was perplexed by everyone's reactions. "With the Phoenix in Gatan, and other Guardian Spirits planned for the other Capitals, we currently hold a good chance of defending the Alfheim Online players from the locals. Judging by the locals' rash actions and fear of the faeries due to our similarities with this world's elves and other non-human intelligent races, I have concluded going down fighting would be preferable over being exploited by them as prisoners."

"This is going too far!" Sakuya exclaimed before her mind caught up with her mouth and emotions. Undeterred by her outburst and embarrassment, the Sylph Faction Leader ploughed on: "Showing strength equivalent to theirs would be the best way to get their cooperation, as it would be preferable to mutual destruction; so relations can be reached between equals. We don't know Tristain's true military capability for sure, but if we go too far with our preparations and end up above theirs it would be worse for diplomacy than if we appeared weaker. Wouldn't it be best if we held off on strengthening the other Capitals for now? Gatan is one thing due to having been attacked, but going further may be disastrous. It can push them into a corner and press them to choose to attack over negotiations, especially considering we appear as what they called 'Firstborn' races that are hostile to them."

"One panicked attack has already struck the players of Alfheim," Titania countered. "Without overwhelming strength known to them as deterrent, they may still attack anyway. Going this far is necessary for our protection.

"Additionally, the effects of 'faeries' having vastly superior military capability over the locals, if it turns out that way, should not affect negotiations excessively; the merchants who traded with us mentioned in passing the elves hold a similar position of dominance militarily, so our position will not be surprising. Further supporting my point, supposedly the elves of this world have held this position over the local humans for thousands of years, and there were still regular Crusades and calls on this continent to retake their 'Holy Land' the elves conquered in ages past; if holding vastly more powerful fighting capability still results in such a response by the locals due to their enmity to non-humans, imagine what may happen if we lack that level of strength but appear similar to the elves."

"That's…" Sakuya struggled to argue against Titania's points, but failed to find the words to express her feelings.

"History – Japanese history, no less – have taught us that one side having overwhelming destructive power with no way of retaliating will _force_ the weaker side to sue for peace," Mortimer pointed out. "The United States dropping a nuclear bomb onto Hiroshima comes to mind, if I remember my history lessons correctly. The crux of all this, of course, hinges on our various resources are indeed vastly superior over than that of Tristain's, not to mention the rest of this continent they call 'Halkeginia'. Though given all of our encounters thus far, there isn't enough information to prove this is the case and this isn't a 'Death World' of some sort; because if it's the latter, we're all in over our heads."

"If we do end up having a war on our hands though," Alicia came to the aid of her friend. "How would that protect the players? Shouldn't we be avoiding anything that could lead to open conflict, given the uncertainty in how our forces compare to Tristain's?"

"There are plans in place for the players' protection in that situation," Titania responded. "The World Tree Guardians will be the bulk of our forces, along with any players willing to volunteer for combat that can comprehend what they are getting themselves into. Nobody will be forced to fight against their will, and anyone unwilling to fight will be evacuated into safer locations. This will be the case if the Faction Capitals are defeated, presuming even the Guardian Spirit activated in defence has failed its task. Borrowing from the game mechanics of Sword Art Online, the City Square of the Faction Capitals holds a teleportation nexus that allow players to travel directly from their city to another during an emergency. This function, unfortunately, would not be available outside states of emergency due to the power-intensive nature of teleportation on the Yggdrasil's Energy Stockpile.

"At the moment only Arrun, or rather Yggdrasil, holds the option of acting as a safe haven for the players if Alfheim comes under sustained attacks," Titania said calmly. "Other Capitals will eventually have back-up plans to act as a sanctuary for the players, though out of all the contingency plans only Yggdrasil has the capability to hold all 61,340 players in one place; the current plans for the other Capitals only have room for the players of the Faction themselves, in the unlikely possibility Yggdrasil has been toppled. This is mainly due to a matter of space constraint as most Capitals can't hold that many people; places like Nissengrof and Everdark might be able to tunnel out more space underground, but others such as Freelia and Parasel lack the space to expand.

"The World Tree can be modified to hold every player if necessary, and if Tristain does hold the ability to severely damage the final bastion of Alfheim we still have the option of fleeing. Though rather than something like the floating castle Aincrad, the resulting structure of the airborne Yggdrasil would be closer to 'Laputa'."

"'Laputa'?" Pieter frowned. The Puca mage gave a thoughtful hum. "You mean that city from the story in 'Gulliver's Travels'?"

"Considering a giant tree is involved, that movie by Studio Ghibli might be a better fit here," Sasaki commented, similarly lost in thought. "The one called 'Castle in the Sky'?"

"Indeed, the latter was more in line with the current plans I have," Titania concurred. With a gesture from the Fairy Queen, the blank screen in mid-air next to her activated once more.

"In the same way the other Capitals lack options the World Tree has, only Yggdrasil, if forced to that point, holds the possibility of striking back safely without endangering the refugees," Titania went on. She gestured to the screen, and said: "Here is an example of what you might be able to expect from the airborne Yggdrasil."

Upon the screen, a clip from an old classic animated film began to play:

"I thought I would show you an example of Laputa's power, as we are about to celebrate the rebirth of the Laputian Kingdom." A man in a suit, named Muska as Sakuya recalled, began to speak. Sakuya remembered the scene herself when she watched it some years back, and judging from the reactions of others present the ones who had seen the movie outnumbered the ones that hadn't. Surprisingly, Mortimer hadn't seen that particular movie, judging from his politely curious face. Similar expressions were on Sasaki and Pieter's faces. Rufus, on the other hand, mentally jumped a few scenes ahead and smirked in realization of how the clip applied to their current situation. The Leprechaun Leader's face held excitement, in stark contrast to that of Alicia's and the others who held apprehension at what the ensuing scene might mean for the ALO players.

"Prepare yourself, for the Thunder of Laputa," Muska spoke while Sakuya's mind wandered, and then one line of runes upon the monolith in front of him was lit up by his hand. Energy sparked around the eight spires on the underside of the Castle, converging and then slamming down onto the oceans below. The shockwaves from the resulting explosion could have been felt kilometres up above, even as a enormous hemisphere of fire burned atop of the endless seas.

"I am not speaking in jest about the comparison between Yggdrasil Citadel and Miyazaki's 'Castle in the Sky'," Titania spoke, ending the clip even as Muska likened Laputa's destruction capability to that of Sodom and Gomorra's biblical purging. "Should Tristain force the World Tree to rise up into the sky, we would be able to rain devastation down upon the land such as the video had demonstrated. At the risk of sounding over-confident, I highly doubt the locals have the ability to strike back against orbital bombardment.

"I would not have considered war as an option if we did not have a high chance to emerge victorious, with the players surviving unharmed as the indispensable prerequisite."

Someone among the Faction Leaders gulped audibly. Sakuya didn't blame them, considering how easily Titania spoke of massacring other people like it was of no importance. Wasn't there programming laws preventing AIs from being able to kill humans? The Sylph Faerie Lord herself was uneasy about kind of power being talked about, never mind actually planning on using them on other people.

"On the other hand, if we are forced to that point it may be unnecessary for the survivors to initiate retribution," Titania said insouciantly. "Through the hole left behind by Yggdrasil's collapse – or even only that of Arrun's – preparations are in place to lift up Jotunheim to the point the denizens of the realms below can roam above ground."

"_What?!_" Pieter exclaimed with wide eyes. Similar sentiments were expressed by everyone present. Even if the Faction Leaders hadn't visited the elite dungeon personally to fight the Mobs, Morgiana and Pieter aside, they had all at least seen various online videos of the boss fights there via walkthrough sites. It took a skilled raid team of elite players to bring down even one of the Jotunns or Beast Gods, if those were allowed to stray freely above ground they could cause untold damage – never mind the yet unseen _Hrimthursar_, the Frost Giants that might lurk deeper below. Things would be even worse if, as Titania had said previously, the mutation of native magic adapting the Jotunns into being no longer only data and able to act outside programmed responses; the various Evil God class mobs were powerful enough when the players knew what might be coming, without that limited foresight the difficulty in destroying them had increased even further. Or, Heaven forbid, the Jotunns started to fight together as a cohesive group rather than being isolated disasters…

"Not to be rude or anything, Titania-san," Morgiana said nervously. "But even for me this seems like too much of overkill…"

"I'd rather have the options and not need them, than needing to go this far but not having the options available," Mortimer said grimly. "It never hurts to be prepared, in light of recent events."

"Damn right," Rufus agreed, with more enthusiasm on his face than Sakuya would have liked for someone discussing the topic at hand. "I know I'd want to have countermeasures like these for Demnann, in case some other crazy mage tried to level the place. Besides, these things are only going to be authorized if our Capital is on the verge of annihilation, right? It's not like we'd be able to screw everyone over with a push of a button on a whim."

"Correct," Titania replied. "As specified in your own Medallions, even just activating the Guardian Spirit to defend your city would result in a re-election in three days' time, in order to prevent abuse of this function. Be prepared to risk your authority if you choose to summon the Guardian Spirit. If you were to activate the Last Resort for your Capital, an even more extreme action, consider it as your final act as Faction Leader. With such capability for damage, obviously the responsibility is just as potent."

"Um…" Simon spoke up hesitantly. "So all of the Capitals would have their own version of something as dangerous as unleashing Jotunheim upon this country?"

"Yes," Titania nodded. "I have something planned for each of the Capitals, though only Gatan's version at the moment is under development aside from Arrun's. I still need to spend some of my time fixing up the liveability of the various Capitals, and not just focus on a theoretical assault upon the players of Alfheim."

"If I may ask, what's planned for Gatan?" Rufus asked out of curiosity. "If it's not classified information restricted to only the eyes of the Salamander Faction Leader, of course."

"For the sake of further impressing upon you the significance of the kind of power you Faction Leaders possess, I believe you people should know," Titania said after some consideration. "However, I request that what all of you have heard here today be classified and not be released to the players in general – at most, only the Faction Leaders and the immediate Deputy Leaders should know. Possession of great power would only create problems in social interactions; though whether due to 'unfairness' that some players have access to powers others do not have, due to fear of threats to themselves or some other kind of reasoning I do not know exactly. For me, this is a non-issue as I do not plan on dealing with the masses of players on a regular basis – that is the role of you Faction Leaders, after all. If absolutely necessary, Kirito here would be my stand-in if my presence is needed for some reason."

Murmurs of agreement were given in response.

"Very well, then, I will explain what's available to Gatan," Titania spoke, taking a deep breath before continuing. "How familiar are all of you with the allusion to _Sozen's Comet_?"

-][-

Standing in his place a few steps away from Titania, Kirito had been clenching his hands into fists for so long he wasn't sure he could pry them apart again – and given the words Titania was speaking, it was unlikely he would even want to attempt to unclench his hands any time soon. It was probably a good thing Yui wasn't present to hear such harsh plans from Titania using Asuna's voice directly; it would only be more emotionally burdening for Kirito's AI daughter. The Black Swordsman was glad Yui was down at the lower levels of the World Tree, checking over the SAO players' life signs for the duration of the Faction Leader's meeting, so that afterwards the SAO players could be released.

The chance for peace between ALO players and Tristain would be shattered beyond repair if what Titania was planning gets out to them; it was unlikely any side would still accept a peaceful agreement if the other side was in the process of amassing weapons for their destruction, regardless whether or not the other side intended to use them or not. Morgiana was right, what Titania proposed wasn't just overkill; it was several steps beyond that.

"Sozen's Comet, from its originating fictional work, is an astrological phenomenon that greatly boosted the ability of the fire-users," Titania explained to the Faction Leaders, since it appeared the majority of the people present hadn't seen the original series in question. The sole exception was Simon, whose eyes boggled at Titania's declaration and trembled at the thought of the reference being brought to life. "Skipping over the minor details, all the Faction Leaders here need to know is that all of the Last Resort plans such as this one involve empowering the inhabitants in the fallen Capital beyond all care for such things as 'Game Balance', in order to strike one last blow to the enemy when escape and rebuilding becomes impossible. I do not foresee any situation where this could come to pass, but given my expectations of our players not beng attacked by local people proven false I have decided to prepare for this scenario regardless.

"Once Sozen's Comet is summoned, Salamanders' Fire Magic will be boosted to the absolute limit that their bodies can handle, given current Real Life parameters. A beginner Salamander player at that point would easily be able to equal the attacking power a 'Mastered' Fire Magic user had within Alfheim Online, and an elite Salamander player will be able match, nay, _surpass_ the feats Duchess Valliere has demonstrated to us. Fire and brimstone shall rain down upon the forces that can destroy Gatan in its entirety, if things have progressed to the point not even the powers of a GM can repair the Capital."

"Well, we'd have to hope our negotiation efforts will succeed and things will never come to that," Thinker quickly said, seeing Sakuya was going to interject fiercely once more. Apart from a few of the Leaders, everyone was trying to come to terms with the sheer lethality of Titania's plans. Thus far, many of the Leaders were trying and failing to incorporate the knowledge they effectively now have a button that for all intents and purposes could destroy a country nearly as absolute as a nuclear bombing. Even the large number of limits placed on the ability didn't put them at ease.

It might be naivety, but Kirito wanted to believe the locals wouldn't be amassing their countermeasures such as Titania was at the time – or rather, even if they were doing so Tristain was so far behind Yggdrasil's capabilities whatever they did wouldn't matter. If things did develop into a case where the locals were a credible threat, there was no way for the Faction Leaders to even consider letting Titania step down and they'd be forced to use every means they had at their disposal. At that moment, Kirito felt relations with Tristain, before only tangential to his priorities as part of the efforts to get Asuna back, now have a newfound importance to him, as even he wouldn't want open war to break out.

Despite that however, if asked whether to choose between Titania staying permanently, with the option absolutely necessary for the players' survival and Asuna unable to return to Kirito, versus the opposite of retrieving Asuna but leave everyone else in danger… the Black Swordsman wouldn't rule out how he might pick the latter and damn the consequences.

No, rather than '_wouldn't_', it might be more accurate to say Kirito '_couldn't_'. After the loss of the Black Cats of the Full Moon guild, after the loss of his first love Sachi, Kirito knew another loss like that would break him completely – that was how important Asuna was to him. The question to him wasn't 'Would losing Asuna to save everyone be worth it', but instead 'Would everyone be worth saving, if at the end of it all Asuna was no longer with him'. At the root of it all, Kirito was a selfish person looking out for himself and people he cared about, and he admitted it – as his experiences as a Solo-Player within Aincrad had shown adequately. Kirito's thoughts were constantly occupied by what, and who, he cherished, and it was only natural in his view for a human being. Not for the first time, Kirito desperately hoped the events that would never develop to the point it would force him to choose and confront what kind of person he had chosen to be.

For the answers revealed then, while true, would likely be cruel beyond his imagination.

"There are several limits on activating the Last Resort," Titania said, summoning a menu window and tapping at it. "You can look up the details yourselves later using the Medallion. Similar restrictions apply for activating the Guardian Spirit, among which is the Faction Leader needs to be physically at the Capital itself. The demonstration at Gatan is an exception to the rules for the time being, as it is a chance to show the Duchess what Afheim possesses and to test out the Guardian. Additionally, I realize Faction Leaders can't be at their Capitals all the time, and I have taken it into account."

Nine orbs of light appeared in front of each of the Faction Leaders, before fading away. In the place of each were blocks of rectangular crystals, each floating serenely in front of a Faerie Lord.

"Similar to how I have taken the teleporting mechanics for between cities from Sword Art Online, I have also managed to recreate the Teleporting Crystals. In an emergency, you can be returned to your Capital immediately by breaking the crystal."

"And this has been tested on living creatures before?" Mortimer asked, reaching out to grab the crystal in front of him. "Did Kirito get volunteered as a test subject, perhaps?"

"Unfortunately, this item is currently still untested with living beings as I have only sent World Tree Guardians through short distances in my previous tests," Titania admitted. "Which is why I recommend you to only risk your life with this only when absolutely necessary, as I still need to conduct more tests to ensure its safety. In exchange, for the time being the Faction Leaders are allowed to assign a representative in their Capital to hold the authority to activate the Guardian Spirit, though not the Last Resort."

Morgiana hummed thoughtfully at Titania's words, and pocketed the crystal she was given. "I don't suppose you can use this to Deep Strike your troops in if the Capitals are in danger, then? The locals might find suddenly appearing troops to be a bit less apocalyptic than the flashy Endgame Bosses damn near everywhere around their country."

"…" Titania paused, mulling over Morgiana's words. "I admit, the thought had not occurred to me that I can use this function so, mixing Sword Art Online and Alfheim Online mechanics so thoroughly," Titania acknowledged the feasibility of the plan. "Further testing is required to fine-tune the function, and there are also obstacles such as locating the coordinates prior to sending off the troops… but yes, this is possible. I am willing to place this proposal ahead of the creation of further Guardian Spirits depending on the outcome of my research; and using a phantom army that could appear anywhere, being a less heavy-handed approach _may_ be a better negotiation card as Sakuya has suggested…"

"The current plan won't be scrapped completely though, Titania-san?" Rufus asked. "The Phoenix has already been announced and demonstrated to the ALO players as a whole, and a strong - if not overwhelming - military power has been impressed upon Duchess Valliere. It may be wise to keep developing the Guardian Spirits as our 'Ace in the Hole', so to speak. We have no real idea what Tristain is _really_ capable of, too; as Mortimer has said, better to have the assets and not need it, than to need it and not have it. Preparations to our best possible ability should be the best way to go about this."

"Why would you want to stay on the previous path, Rufus?" Sakuya said, with perhaps a bit more bite than the Lady of the Sylphs intended. "Does the thought of lording over weaker people and harming others make you happy or something?"

"We're VRMMO gamers, Sakuya," Rufus shot back. "It's only natural for us to be happy at the thought of wielding power beyond what others have – we thrive on the respect and influence we have over that of other people's. Not to mention, ALO isn't exactly one of those games where you focus on teamwork across the entire player population and not just your own Faction, y'know. And even without that part of us as gamers, I'm only arguing for the best way for our survival as I see it."

"Enough," Titania cut off Sakuya before she could retort. "Argue about the correct dispositions for a VRMMO player in your own time. That does not concern me, and I do not wish to get involved in such talks.

"Onto other matters; the important updates to make the various capitals liveable are outlined in a document sent to your Medallions, take some time reading them and get back to me after consultations between yourselves and the rest of the players as you see fit. I would like to know if there are particular essentials players wish to have patched first over others, or if previous patches failed to address crucial details. Additionally, there is the discussion of how the responsibilities should be split between myself as GM and your Faction Leader positions, beyond the general divide of letting you all handle the interpersonal aspects among players…"

The meeting between Titania and others continued, with the AI present not tolerating any off-topic discussions. Kirito wondered briefly if he should ask Nishida to bring in some chairs, but then thought better of it; despite it now being Real Life, their constitutions as faeries allowed them better physical fitness compared to humans. Not getting physically tired in-game due to it only being VR and your real body not moving has been transferred over to a small extent. Besides, since everyone had gotten into the swing of things it might not be for the best to interrupt them.

Within hours, the first official meeting between Titania and the Faction Leaders came to a close, and Kirito was free to make his way down to the lower levels to start arranging the release of SAO players.

* * *

_AN:_ Teleporting in WTGs to fight only occurred to me as I wrote out this chapter, even though I've planned the teleporting crystal existence bit since the start of the fanfic; this will add a bit more detail to later scenes, but doesn't change my current plans as a whole. Titania's WTGs to me now seem almost like Old!Necron-lite by WH40k Tabletop terms… ^^; (ie, teleporting in from nearly anywhere, shoots, and then teleporting out if able. Rinse and Repeat.)  
In case people haven't noticed by this point, Titania subscribes to the idea of "there's no kill like overkill, it's the only way to be sure".

Sachi as Kirito's first love was confirmed in the 'WEB'/online fanfic version of SAO, before it got published as a LN series. I'm using this interpretation instead of the LN one where Sachi and Kirito didn't have romantic love and were "only fellow victims licking each other's' wounds". I'm personally not sure why I prefer the WEB version in this case; maybe because of more potential for Kirito suffering in this story?

For the record, this story isn't going to end up as a 'Versus' fanfic between Alfheim and Halkeginia, let alone a curbstomp. I've tried to say this over at my SpaceBattles forum thread, but long story short there's nothing I can say to convince people otherwise except 'Wait and See'. I'll let the FiF future chapters speak for me on this matter.


	13. Chapter 13

AN: Thanks to LordsFire for beta-ing.

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen**

-][-

"Get back! Get away from me-!" One of the soldiers screamed, before a Dire Wolf battered away his sword with its claws and ripped open his neck with its fangs.

Similar bloody scenes happened all around Cedric, a lowly sword-for-hire, as the pack of gigantic wolves descended upon the patrol his group was travelling with. The trip would be an easy one, the leader of his mercenary band said, away from the danger down south with all those dragons, he said. Easy money for just riding around, taking advantage of the panicking of the higher nobles… hah! The poor bastard of a noble was disembowelled in the opening exchange between the wolves' ambush from out of the forests surrounding the stretch of the road they were currently at and their counterattack; his leather armour did nothing against their claws. The wolves had it out for humans for some reason, ignoring larger game and prioritized humans as their prey if any were nearby.

Desperate to stay alive, Cedric parried and dodged – mostly dodged – with all he had, even though he knew his fate was sealed; the score or so of trained soldiers of the Vallieres accompanying them had better equipment and training, and they still dropped like swatted flies en masse. Soon, the numbers of their patrol would drop low enough he would be hamstrung by a second wolf, and suffer a thankfully quick death if not a painless one.

Finally, with light wounds all around his arms and torso, his own sword was bashed out of his hands and his left arm he threw up on reflex to protect himself got crunched by sharp fangs. The wolf quickly released his mangled arm from its jaws, and then moved in for the kill-

Bolts of thin light descended from the heavens.

A glowing arrow penetrated right through the skull of the wolf – who had almost taken Cedric's own head off – and more arrows struck its body, knocking it into the ground so it collapsed on top of Cedric, knocked him down along with the wolf's carcass. Winded by the sudden impact and fall, Cedric breathed heavily while his heart pounding painfully. With his eyes facing the sky, Cedric wondered when it became overcast by clouds, before mentally kicking himself for thinking that as his final thought before his death.

Seconds later as his breathing calmed somewhat – a outcome he was surprised by, and fully expected otherwise with another wolf coming along to bite off his head while he was down – Cedric realized _what he was seeing wasn't clouds_.

White golems, or Alviss – Cedric never had paid attention to what the nobles called their creations exactly – blocked out the sky that he could see clear of trees, all flying southbound. All of them held weapons like swords or bows. Now that his ears weren't filled with pounding of blood flow and his heavy breathing, Cedric could hear a buzzing sound like that of a swarm of locusts. The wolf was then hauled off of Cedric somehow, and the mercenary sat up while wincing in pain at his arm – it would take weeks to heal at least – and looked at who had moved the wolf:

One of the golems, which were taller than even a grown man, loomed over Cedric with a huge wolf carcass held up by one arm over one of its shoulder. For some reason, the arrows Cedric saw impaling the wolf disappeared during the time he was down. Looking around him, Cedric saw similar golems picking up the remains of the wolves that gave them such trouble, ignoring maybe the handful of survivors left of the patrol; only two others from his group was left, and two other soldiers that was lucky enough to survive. The number of golems present matched the count of dead wolves, though it seemed a few of the wolves had managed to escape from the scene when attacked from above.

"Excuse me, who are-" One of the Valliere soldiers began to speak, before all of the golems took flight, returning to their airborne procession with the beasts' remains. Left alone with only the company of the dead and the other survivors, one of the other mercenaries put words to the thought running through all of their minds right then, albeit more uncouth than necessary:

"What the fuck just happened here?"

-][-

Upon departing the desert, Karin was placed at the forefront of the procession with Eugene as they flew towards Valliere Manor. Along the way, they encountered many of the monsters the faeries called 'Mobs', and the World Tree Guardians made short work of all of them. Their conjured arrows were freakishly accurate, able to hit vital areas on their prey without missing and kill one of the victims of Mob attacks by accident, even if the probable-victim to friendly fire was less than a mail away. For the monsters that had the superior speed to be able to avoid arrows, such as a bat-winged ogre of some kind that attempted to charge Eugene, the Guardians went into melee distance and simply dismantled their opposition with their weaponry; the skill, speed and strength the golems had was superior to that of a commoner soldier in melee, without magic to even the odds it was likely a single Guardian could cut down entire squads of soldiers. Once the Mob targeted was defeated, other Guardians went in to pick up anything useful from the remains and moved to the back of the group.

Left unsaid in Eugene's speech back in Gatan was how if Duke Valliere refused to pay the outlined reimbursements, the assembled force of World Tree Guardians would massacre everyone within Valliere Manor and then raze it to the ground; Mortimer had made it clear from his earlier words to Karin. From what Karin had seen of the Guardians' combat ability, she could believe that the forces assembled were capable of that. One way or another, reparations would be made that day.

The faeries' scouts found two towns nearby along their way south, and Eugene gave the order to swing around to them and deliberately fly over the towns which were packed with refugees from isolated villages. The civilians below were scared witless of the Firstborns' appearance and their army, while the soldiers didn't respond hostilely for fear of the Duchess' safety – not to mention their own if they raised the Firstborns' ire. A few times a mage below went against orders to try and cast against the Salamanders, and received an arrow to the shoulder in response. The Guardians however, after they made their point that resistance would not be tolerated, proceeded to fly on without stopping to finish off the offender. Eugene did a fine job in impressing upon the Tristainians the unassailable strength of the Fae, leaving minimal injuries and zero deaths wherever he went; Mortimer's goals were achieved flawlessly as far as Karin could tell.

Soon, Karin found the Valliere Manor coming into sight. Glancing to the side, grim determination adorned the General's face, with his Medallion glowing with the blue-white flames of the Phoenix's Blessing. While perhaps not as potent as back in Gatan, Eugene still held some advantage from the Phoenix's summoning even then. Other Salamanders' Medallions were similarly gifted, too.

Approaching the Manor, Karin saw once more the frightened actions of her people in response to the faeries' presence, with her servants fleeing inside and her gathered soldiers tensely clutching their weapons. What she didn't expect, however, was the presence of a militant force not of the Vallieres; a score of mages upon horses plus another dozen mage-knights with griffins as their mounts, and carriages upon one end of the Manor's courtyard. One of them was richly decorated with gold, silver and platinum, and pulled by what appeared to be horned horses.

Karin's heart jumped at the familiar sight of that carriage, and she swore silently; even if she couldn't clearly see the crest upon the carriage from her current distance, the Duchess was positive she knew what was on the crest that was embossed upon its doors:

A crystal staff accompanying the head of a holy creature, the unicorn; the Royal Crest of Tristain's Princess.

Karin tried her hardest to show no signs of emotions, even as she frantically attempted to find a way to maneuver out of their disadvantageous situation right then. _Why did they have to arrive here TODAY, of all days?_

-][-

Princess Henrietta, Heir to the Tristainian Throne and seventeen years of age, sat nervously at the table while Cardinal Mazarin, Tristain's current Regent, and Duke Valliere conferred with one another. Her visit to Germania discussing the details of her marriage to the Germanian Emperor had been cut short, upon urgent reports of various circumstances back home; a colossal tree appearing near the centre of the nation, along with new cities, monsters, and even _elves_ supposedly roaming the land. Headmaster Osmond of the Tristain Academy of Magic had even been approached by the newcomers to pass on a message requesting for peace, and had been feverishly trying to prevent Tristain's nobles near the Capital from doing anything rash. It was the Headmaster's missive that convinced Mazarin to return to Tristain with all haste.

Even without Henrietta's personal wish to return to her country to do any good she could, Tristain's Princess could hardly be left in Germania without serious political protection with Cardinal Mazarin needing to return during the time of crisis. Her procession had stopped at Valliere Manor en route to the Capital in order to acquire further guards; even with a dispatch of Griffon Knights from the Royal Guards to accompany her return, it had been a close call at times with the appearance of new monsters throughout the country. Tristain's mages fought valiantly against foes they had never come across, but each encounter wounded at least a few of her vassals, even if they were not serious injuries.

"I can send some of my reserved troops with you to escort the Princess back to the Capital," the Duke admitted unhappily. The proud man that Henrietta remembered him to be now had bags under his blood-shot eyes, among other signs of weariness upon his visage. "The security of the Princess is paramount, above every other matter I have here at the present. The infestation of the so-called 'Wyverns' to the south of my territory has seemingly been cleared up over-night, accompanying the reports of a convoy of Firstborns flying out of the dark mountains there heading towards our capital Tristainia. Despite that though I ask of you, Mazarin, and of you, Your Highness, to lend me some of the Royal Army for my investigation of the desert towards the north once the capital is confirmed to be safe."

"You have my condolences for the heavy losses of your troops in the defence of Tristain's citizens, Your Grace," Mazarin said sympathetically, and Henrietta nodded in agreement as well. Both of the older men were too focused on their conversation to notice the Princess' unease. "I promise you that I'll strive to get you the support you need, politics be damned. The Valliere family have been a steadfast supporter of the Royal Family throughout the centuries, yourself and the Duchess included. Barring more urgent needs for the Army elsewhere, such as another infestation elsewhere like the one your people have weathered through, you shall have the Army's forces available to you."

The Duke opened his mouth to reply, before commotion outside the room interrupted his words.

"Out of my way, I have urgent business with the Duke!" A voice commanded, before the door was unceremoniously wrenched open from the other side. A sharp-looking noble, wearing a feathered-hat and a moustache short beard on his face, strode into the room. The Captain of the Griffin Knights, Viscount Wardes, had a look of urgency on his face that only someone in the direst of situations might show.

"Your Highness, Your Grace," Wardes said quickly. "The Duchess has returned! But-"

"**Greetings, residents of the Valliere estate,**" a voice boomed out from outside the manor. "**I am Eugene, Commander of the Salamander Faction's forces among the nine faerie races of Alfheim. Duchess Karin Desiree de la Valliere has launched an unprovoked attack upon Gatan, the Salamander's Capital city, and caused untold damage to our city and people. I wish to speak with Duke Pierre Laurent de la Valliere about reparations to our people for her actions.**"

"What is the situation?" The Duke rose from his seat, all emotional tiredness swept away by an aura of seriousness despite the physical signs remaining. With a curt nod to both Mazarin and Henrietta, he moved to leave the room.

"Twenty-one individuals, likely Firstborns of some sort, and at least a thousand of some kind of combat-orientated Alviss," Wardes reported with the same solemnity. "All of them flight capable, and they've surrounded the airspace of the entire Manor. They have the Duchess encased nearly completely in metal and chains, with her somehow unable to break out despite her prodigal abilities."

"_Damnation_," Duke Valliere growled. Henrietta flinched at the sheer intensity of the man's anger, but she felt she could understand the cause. From her history lessons, Halkeginia generally needed over ten times that of the elves' forces in order to even barely obtain a narrow victory. The most recent example was the Battle of Toule, where a small army of 7,000 humans gathered from Tristain and Gallia fought 500 elves; ignoring what the propaganda publicly stated was 2,000 elves, that was only for the peace of mind of the masses, playing down the threat of their ancient enemy. That kind of information shouldn't be for use in wars with people's lives at stake.

The 'faeries', as they called themselves, might not need such an overwhelming number to overcome; they might not be as magically powerful as the elves, the dominant Firstborn race, and their Alviss couldn't possibly be a match to an actual Firstborn soldier who can cast spells along with being physically superhuman in melee combat. Even so, going by Henrietta's amateur knowledge of warfare, what the Fae fielded against them at that moment was still beyond all the military forces in the immediate area for combat. A quick glance to Cardinal Mazarin showed he came to the same conclusion as her assessment, and had a grim expression on his face at the news.

"Your Highness," Duke Valliere said before he crossed the threshold of the room. "I would like to ask for you to stay indoors for the time being; their quarrels are with the Vallieres, not the Tristainian Royalty. If things do end up… 'unfavourable' for us, then try and escape with your guards; if you can afford to take anyone with you from my lands, please do so, but leave us all behind if they are a burden to your safety."

"I don't wish to be a monarch that would use the lives of her people to buy safe passage," Henrietta said instead with determination. "Please, let me go with you; is it not a monarch's duty to aid her people if they are in need?"

"Not if it is to the detriment of the nation," the Duke said fiercely. Henrietta was cowed by his vehemence, but stood her ground regardless. "Tristain cannot afford to lose you, Your Highne- Henrietta."

The Princess blinked; she hadn't been called that by the Duke since she was about 5 years old, when he was more like the uncle she never had as she played with Louise. An aloof one, yes, but ultimately one who cared for her wellbeing as much as he did for his own children.

"Your duty is to guide the people of Tristain as best as you can," Duke Valliere said not unkindly. "And sometimes, that means to sacrifice one part in order to save the greater whole. Not unlike how at times a Water mage has to remove a limb if it is beyond saving so its owner can live on. The Vallieres aren't so important to be worth risking our next Queen, or the entirety of our country."

"But…" Henrietta truly wished to argue otherwise, maybe even pull rank on him if she thought that could have worked against the Duke.

"If things do go that far, please take care of Cattleya for me," Duke Valliere asked quietly. "With a Water mage keeping her condition stable, especially a Triangle class one, maybe she can survive and be able to leave the Valliere lands for once in her life. I beg this of you, Your Highness."

"… I will, Your Grace," Henrietta said reluctantly. "Take care; neither Cattleya nor Louise would want their father to come to harm."

"It's entirely possible that I'm overthinking this too much," the Duke smiled tiredly. "But experience taught me to always prepare for the worst. Excuse me then, Your Highness; Your Excellency."

Duke Valliere then left, conversing with the Viscount as they walked away.

-][-

"Masterfully done, Your Grace," Wardes commented as they made their way to the main doors of the Manor. "Playing on the kindness of the Princess like that, in order to get her to be willing to escape."

"Shut up, Jean-Jacques," Pierre growled in a low voice. "Not the time."

Normally the Duke would have been willing to trade banter with the fiancée of his youngest daughter, maybe taking shots at the Viscounts' efforts to root out Gallia's information network within Tristain in the process. What was happening right now with faeries however fell firmly outside 'normal' boundary, even for someone of their experiences. At least Wardes meant well with his words despite the semantics used.

"And while I would like to stay and aid my future father-in-law in any way I can, I am obligated to protect the Princess as a Captain of the Royal Guard," Wardes continued. "My apologies, Your Grace; if the Firstborns do attack I'll be taking my men and fighting a way out for the Princess instead."

"If you do anything other than that, even if it's for the sake of my survival, I will cancel your marriage with Louise and then execute you personally for treason if I am still around to do so," Pierre grunted. "_Slowly_. Karin, for all her zeal, likes to be direct about it and will at least make it quick. I won't be that lenient."

No reply came from Wardes; not that one was needed. The Viscount knew, after knowing the Duke and Duchess for years that if he wanted to join the Valliere family – or even just associate with them as an ally – he better be a shining example of noble behaviour. At twenty-six years old, the time when Karin was at the height of her fame as the Captain of the Manticore Knights was before the Viscount's time; it had been three decades ago when Karin retired. Nevertheless, the Valliere matriarch expected Wardes to be as disciplined as her Rule of Steel if he was to marry Louise, and Duke Valliere agreed wholeheartedly on the matter as it involved the wellbeing of one of his daughters. As such, if Wardes were to betray Tristain the Duke and Duchess would take it as a personal insult and hunt him down to the best of their capability. Thus far though, the Viscount hadn't given them any doubts that he wouldn't be a good husband when he eventually marry the Valliere's third daughter.

"If the Vallieres do fall today, can I count on you to look after Louise?" Pierre asked, moments before they exit the Manor. The Duke regretted that he had already sent Barkus and his friends on ahead to the north in an attempt to find out what happened with Karin and the other mage-knights who headed there earlier – a veteran mage-knight of his own calibre and two vampires loyal to the Crown would undoubtedly be helpful in their situation, regardless what task those three might be allocated.

"That isn't going to work on me, Your Grace," Wardes said respectfully. "I fully expect myself to die in the line of duty for Tristain; don't be too surprised if you have to look for a new fiancée for your daughter in the near future."

"I already have to do so, considering what my dear Eleanor did very recently to Earl Burgundy," Pierre sighed, allowing himself the barest amount of humour for the moment. "It would be a pain to have to do so again in such a short time."

"My apologies," Wardes said with his head bowed – possibly to hide a small smile of his own. "But I can make no promises even with that development."

"A shame," the Duke shook his head. "Well, I better go meet our guests; letting other people wait can't possibly be beneficial at times like this."

-][-

"Is that him?" Eugene asked Karin when a man in his late fifties came out of the Manor, flanked by two other mages as his guards. The leading man had a monocle on one eye, and a wand tucked in the belt of the finery he wore. The other mages had wandswords similar to the one which Karin used as a casting implement and as a melee weapon, also sheathed at their belt though they were more openly willing to go for them on a second's notice.

"Yes, that's him," Karin confirmed. The General grunted in response, and gave his orders.

Eugene lowered his altitude, and the two World Tree Guardians holding Karin in the air descended with him. The rest of the troops present stayed airborne, watchful of any possible attacks. If Eugene was harmed, then the Guardians would undoubtedly fall upon the rest of the Manor, as final as an executioner's axe.

"Duke Valliere, I presume?" Eugene asked as he landed onto the courtyard. Karin's upright and chained form landed to his side.

"Indeed," Pierre nodded, waving his guards back as he stepped forward to talk. "And you're Commander Eugene? Should I address you with some particular honorific?"

"Just 'Eugene' will do, I'm not too particular about titles and propriety beyond basic politeness," the Salamander said casually. "It is a pleasure to talk with a reasonable local for once, Your Grace."

"A shame that you had to obtain this hospitality by severely outnumbering my forces present here and using a hostage against me," Pierre replied calmly, with no signs of outward anger. Karin knew her husband well enough however, to know he was most likely seething inside at the heavy-handed methods used against him.

"You would do the same if your stronghold was attacked unprovoked, and a large number of the people you're responsible for suffered in its duration," Eugene replied amicably, not holding Duke Valliere's anger against him. "You seem like the honourable sort to want to put across the message that sort of thing is not tolerated – which is what the Salamanders Faction is trying to do here."

"So you say," Pierre said in response, shifting his gaze towards Karin. The ex-Captain had the decency to look away, chastised, rather than stubbornly glare back and challenge the thought she had done something wrong. All these decades later, and she still managed to get caught up in trouble like a novice knight.

"But if it'll make you feel better, you can have the Duchess back before I outline what we want as reparation for her attack," Eugene said, and gestured to the two automatons. Chains fell away from Karin immediately, and Eugene moved over to unlock the Thorn Manacles. "The perimeter stays, however."

"… That's awfully generous of you," Duke Valliere raised his eyebrow at the sight, as Karin shakily walked back towards him with sore muscles all over her body mildly impeding her steps. "If you were there defending against Karin's attacks, surely you know letting her go free with wands in reach means she could wipe out everyone you've brought along with you?"

"You're speaking to the man that captured her, for all her destructive power," Eugene shrugged, uncaring of the Duchess' abilities. "I'm not loaded up with buffs to the brim right now, yeah, but she's not operating at her best either. With all the Cold Iron on her the armour will take some time to get off, and while she wears all that her magic power is effectively a tenth of her usual strength at most. If you want to push your luck instead, we can go for the option of having Tristain pay in blood of the Valliere affiliated people if you like."

"You neglected to mention that you faeries are Founder-damned immortal," Karin muttered, reaching where Pierre was and one of the guards helped to keep her on her feet. It was probably the only thing that prevented the two guards from going for their swordwands immediately at Eugene's words. "It'll take some serious efforts to even harm your people, and even if we could do any lasting damage against your troops you have your Greater Spirits and your Fairy Queen's so-called numberless army to support your own powerful mages. It's a wonder why your people are even asking for peaceful negotiations instead of taking what you want with all your advantages."

"As my brother would put it, 'we want to have peace with your people,'" Eugene began to say. "'But we don't necessarily _need_ it'. We might be able to grind Tristain under our foot and rule like tyrants, but it's too much of a hassle to do so – or putting it another way, too inefficient – and not worth the time and effort. We have enough problems dealing with our own people as it is, and we don't want to have to deal with ruling over yours as well."

"Some of the other Firstborn races might deal with this conundrum simply by erasing us humans from the surface of Halkeginia, if they hold the same resources yours do." Pierre noted. "It seems hardly likely your people haven't considered this option."

"You make it sound like we have no decency of any kind," Eugene snorted, folding his arms. "From your point of view I guess you can probably say we're a bunch of extortionists, but we don't want to take lives unless we're threatened to begin with. Or rather, we don't want to become people that _will_ kill others off without a second thought if it means we can benefit from it. Is it really that hard to believe we have some measure of morality?"

Karin wanted to say 'yes', though even someone as rash as her knew better than to provoke someone with the kind of forces available to him – especially with people like Cattleya and the Princess in the area who could get caught up in the crossfire. It was not even purely a emotion-fuelled response; apart from the strictly neutral types like a few Firstborn animal species such as the 'Wind-Weasels', and the 'Winged People' of the _Black Forest_ spanning much of the border between Gallia and Germania, the rest of the Firstborns were unfailingly hostile to humans. Goblin raids occurred almost regularly against small villages for various resources, and Vampires fed upon the same strata of victims – albeit they acted less openly than most races. Allies friendly to humans like Daphne and Amethyst among the Firstborns were rare exceptions.

Yes, the faeries being friendly were undoubtedly questionable.

"I will have to think a bit more on that," Pierre said, after some thought. Karin wasn't quite sure if her husband was being diplomatic – a word she disliked intensely normally – in his disbelief, or if he really believed Eugene's words. "There simply isn't enough information currently to tell either way right now. Why don't we come back to this later, and you tell me about what you are demanding as reparation instead?"

-][-

Duke Valliere listened patiently as Eugene listed the faeries' demands. If Karin really did do everything the Commander said – which judging by her track record, personality, and her current reactions to Eugene's words made it seemed likely – then by his honour he was obligated to pay the reparations, even without the army behind Eugene to back up his claim.

Allowing the faeries to capture and kill the 'Mobs' as Eugene called the various new monsters all across their territory was alright with the Duke – the monsters needed to be cleared, and with the faeries' aid he wouldn't need to risk his own people in an costly endeavour. He was glad Eugene didn't extort more out of him by saying they needed to be paid for their efforts, though letting them have first pick over the monsters' remains would count as payment in Pierre's eyes; not that his people would have any clue what the new reagents from the monsters could be used for. It would be better if he could instead establish trade relations with these 'Salamanders' first and get the finished products, even if they used Karin's action as leverage to drive a hard bargain. If the Vallieres had first access to completely new items they could on-sell it to others for a large margin of profit, before the faeries establish a wide enough market on their own or Romalia intervened by declaring something ridiculous as the Fae-made goods being blasphemous. Not that the latter would be enforceable without fail across the continent, despite what the Romalians might believe.

It was the other matter that was problematic: enough supplies, mainly food, to last a city of over 8,000 people for over a period of three months. That would be costly even for a family among the top five of Tristain's elites. The only way it could have hit the Vallieres harder was if Eugene had placed their demand near the end of summer when supplies were being gathered in preparation for winter, instead of right then near the beginning of spring.

"Am I to take it that the demands are non-negotiable?" Pierre asked, fully expecting the answer to be 'pay us or die'.

"Not necessarily," Eugene shrugged. "Our goal here is to make sure the Vallieres pay a price so steep it would discourage others from launching another attack on our Capitals; things like the food and others can be purchased from merchants instead, we don't have to have your food in particular. If you have other alternatives, feel free to tell me about them."

Pierre narrowed his eyes. While unexpected, it certainly opened up some options for the Vallieres.

"Has anyone ever told you politics does not work this way?" Pierre asked. "Being so blunt and forward like this?"

"Mortimer does, all the time," Eugene grunted. "I prefer to let my sword and spells to do the fighting, not words; which is why Mortimer's the Faction Leader, not me. I'm happier this way, and the Salamanders are better off with him in charge."

"You do realize that this might allow me to find a way to lessen the damage your demands will have on us?" Duke Valliere said with a frown.

"Call it 'building up goodwill' if you want," Eugene replied nonchalantly. "Consider it as a concession for peaceful relations between our two sides, or something. Or if you don't believe that, let me put it another way: If Tristainians are the kind of people that would take advantage of things like this, better we find out on things that don't matter than be screwed over later on things that _do_ matter. The Salamanders can always fall back to the 'Burn Everything' option if you fail to complete your side in good faith – there are a decent number of us that still want bloody revenge, despite the Leaderships' wish for peace and upholding our morals."

The Salamander General seemed supremely confident that his forces could simply mow down anything Tristain fielded against them, even if Duke Valliere used the negotiations as a ruse to stall for time and call in further military aid; and judging by the displeased expression on Karin's face Pierre felt that may not be an exaggeration. The Duke could see Karin was not tortured, broken, or anything like that – he had seen some of those during his time in direct service to the Crown, unfortunately – and Karin in her condition didn't disagree with Eugene's boasts. Add to her earlier words of the Fae being immortals, there could be _some_ basis in the General's confidence and by extension the myths of the faeries' capabilities.

"… I will fully comply with the demands of the Salamander faeries," Duke Valliere finally said. "Though may I negotiate some of the details?"

Eugene raised one eyebrow in response. "Go on…"

-][-

"It looks like we're in the clear for now," Wardes reported to Mazarin as he listened to the Duke's conversation outside using a spell. Beside them, Henrietta sighed in relief that there wouldn't be bloodshed, at least that day. Cattleya, sitting next to her, enveloped the younger girl in a hug at Wardes' announcement, also relieved that fighting and fleeing for their lives wasn't necessary.

_So, these are the faeries…_ Henrietta thought. For first impressions, it was not a bad one as things went. Stoic, standoffish, yet they were still willing to negotiate for the good of their people as a whole in spite of being wronged and the impulsive call for vengeance. If all of the Fae's leaders were like Eugene – which was admittedly doubtful – then things may not end in a crisis for Tristain as they first believed. From the conversation, it even appeared they had initiated a call for peace, despite the unfortunate circumstances of the Regent, Cardinal Mazarin being away from Tristain at the time. Henrietta vowed that when she returned to the palace she would do all she could, as limited as that was, to ensure the best resolution for everyone.

Because much as the faeries, who had finished conversing with Duke Valliere at that point and made a full withdrawal of their forces present, she did not wish for Tristain to be at war either.

* * *

AN: The 'Battle of Toule', referenced from ZnT LN Vol10 Ch8, had only 7,000 humans instead of the 70,000 as stated on BakaTsuki; I got my numbers from the official Chinese version of the LNs instead of using fan translations.

The 'Wind-Weasels' are called 'Echoes' in ZnT, a type of creature taken from the description of Japanese Youkai named Kamaitachi, which showed up in Tabitha Side Stories. I'm using the name in the chapter instead because the name 'Echoes' aren't as descriptive IMO.


	14. Chapter 14

AN: This chapter is mostly a set-up one. The more 'fun' stuff will resume next chapter. Please forgive the abundance of 'tell' instead of 'show', but I wanted to power through this chapter so I can get on with the other stuff.

Credit to LordsFire for beta-ing, again.

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen**

-][-

"Releasing the Sword Art Online players now."

With a wave of her hand, Titania dispelled the sleep spell upon the nearly 300 players within the room. Groggy moans came from various places as the SAO players, at the moment transformed into Alfs, began to regain consciousness.

"I will leave the rest to you here," Titania said to Kirito brusquely. "I have other matters to attend to. Excuse me."

Titania then walked out of the doors, without even a word to the various other SAO veterans gathered. Among the gathered people, even those who had interacted with Asuna the most failed to draw any recognition from the Fairy Queen. The ten members of Furinkazan, the ones who were regular fighters including Klein and would have met Asuna during at least some Frontline strategy meetings, were passed by without a second glance. Argo 'The Rat', the top information broker of Aincrad that had dealings with Asuna occasionally, was treated the same. Even Lizbeth, Asuna's best friend within the death game, failed in obtaining any reaction from Titania. The blacksmith teen had wanted to say something to Titania, but was cowed by the uncaring look she received.

And needless to say, Kirito was treated coldly as merely another player instead of Asuna's beloved. That, more than anything, cemented the general impression from those who knew Asuna 'The Flash' personally that something was dreadfully wrong.

The reason why the other SAO players Argo brought in to help them find Asuna were present were because of their reputations. Klein and his Furinkazan guild would be known to anyone that regularly visited the Frontlines; they might not be among the elite guilds such as the Divine Dragon Alliance or the famed Knights of Blood, but anyone on the Frontlines would know Klein and his people to be trustworthy allies. For the players that were not Frontline material or those that stayed at the relative safety of the lower floors, they would have recognized some of the various other individuals present: Argo the Rat, whose tracks were nearly everywhere within Aincrad regardless of floor number, normally in pursuit of usable knowledge; Silica the 'Dragon Tamer', an idol for many of the SAO players due to the rareness of animal companions in SAO and her appearance; and the shop owners Lizbeth and Agil, who both had a reasonably large customer base from the middle-tiered players. This was without going into how Kirito knew the dark-skinned shopkeeper had covertly invested his profits into raising lower-levelled players, which could come in useful here if one of the 300 players had been under his care. With the individuals gathered by Argo, it was unlikely that there existed a SAO player that didn't know at least a few names from the group here.

Kirito ignored the all too familiar pang in his heart that came whenever Titania, who wore Asuna's face, showed only indifference for him. Instead he focused on the general mood of the room, while Yui, sitting on his head, did the same thing. While the Navigation Pixie could've sat on Kirito's shoulder instead, as Kirito had changed back to his usual black coat by that point, Yui preferred her head-top location for reasons unknown to her adoptive father.

"Excuse me, everyone," Thinker began to call out. "May I have your attention, please?"

The Guild Leader of the group 'MMO Today', which in time grew to be called the 'Aincrad Liberation Force' and more colloquially the 'Army', was well known to many of the lower levelled SAO players. Despite his failings such as trusting others too easily – which wasn't a great issue for many of the non-combatants – those same traits made Thinker someone widely regarded as trustworthy. Or if the SAO players didn't trust Thinker, at least they would be more likely to trust Yulier next to him, who as his second-in-command had a more direct approach and got to know the players personally. Having familiar faces addressing them would hopefully calm them down, if anyone was jumpy from having been woken up recently.

Kirito and Yui stayed at the back, obscured by the bulk of the others present. The Black Swordsman was a Solo-Player, and a Beater – portmanteau word for 'cheater left over from the Beta-stage players' – to many of the SAO players; he wouldn't know anyone apart from the other handful of Frontline Solo-Players still existing by Floor 74, and his reputation was of such within SAO Kirito believed it would be better if he was not recognized. The hype about Kirito defeating the Floor 74 Boss with Dual Blades would have faded from everywhere except the Frontlines during the two weeks he spent with Asuna on a private honeymoon, and it was highly likely none of the 300 players was present at his final duel with Heathcliff when the KoB Commander was revealed as Kayaba Akihiko.

Thinker began to explain to the SAO Survivors, about how it had been months after SAO had been cleared and some people hadn't been released from the death game. The Undine Leader that had only been elected mere days ago procedded to explain about the events within ALO, and how before they could investigate the World Tree the Transition happened and dragged them into what seemed like a new world entirely.

"You have got to be kidding me," one of the players said incredulously. "Are you sure this isn't just Kayaba further messing with us?"

"Kayaba's dead," a man in white and red armour replied from among them; Kirito thought he looked familiar, possibly one of the Knights of Blood if he was not mistaken. "The Black Swordsman took him down; I saw it with my own eyes."

"You saw Kayaba's HP gauge reach 0," another player disputed. "Which doesn't mean that he's dead; what kind of idiot would set up a death game and make it so it'll fry his own brain? For all we know he's still screwing with us and is watching all this from a different seat somewhere laughing at us."

"The news we've found shows the police managed to find Kayaba's corpse," Yulier said, backed up by nods from Agil and Klein. "He's really dead, as far as we know."

"Which everyone probably won't believe anyway, seeing as we can't just call up a news article like if we're connected to the internet," Argo interjected, pre-empting further arguments from among the SAO players. "Look, everyone can make their own decisions themselves; I've gone and wrote up a summary of everything that has happened, if anyone cares, and uploaded it into everyone's Medallions. Take some time to read through them, think over it all, and then decide what you believe."

Uncomfortable mutterings came from the crowd; Argo was known for a lot of things, such as having an unhealthy interest in making a person pay a hefty price for anything they desperately wanted to know, but she wasn't a liar. None of the assembled players on Argo's side had a negative reputation that could pull her words into doubt, with the possible exception of Kirito.

"Why don't we take a break, get some grub, and think this over once everyone has a full stomach?" Argo suggested. "The stuff that's been fed into you might be nutritious, but it doesn't really fill your belly. You all can decide whether the word of Argo is unreliable or not after we get out of this place, 'kay?"

Once the only Puca player in the room spoke of it, it was obvious some of the players felt hungry. Kirito made a note to check up on what Titania had been eating the last few days as well, in case he had to intervene somehow.

"Before we go however, there's something I'd like to bring up:" Thinker said. "How does everyone here feel about getting a new skill? Considering we're no longer in SAO, there are additional ways of fighting available to us. Magic for ranged combat is a staple part of fighting here. If people here wish to obtain them please access your Medallion as follows for more information…"

Thinker and Yulier then helped the players learning how to access the menus, and excited murmurs filled the crowd as they looked up the nine races available to them and the magic that came with the race. 'Reincarnation' was confirmed as one of the planned functions within ALO, which Kirito first heard about when Sigurd had betrayed Sakuya and planned on joining the Salamanders. Titania completed that function only the previous evening, to allow the SAO players to be able to be integrated into the current system without them physically standing out and causing further social issues. That the Alfs were an incomplete faerie race, with the Alfs' 'Light Magic' spell tree not finished being programmed at the time of the Transition also played a small part in Titania's decision; even if the SAO players didn't join ALO of their own will, Titania didn't feel it was right to have a portion of players stuck in their current condition to be disadvantaged by not having skills other players possessed.

As the majority of the players were occupied Kirito snuck out of the room without the crowd noticing, moving to prepare the 'Chalice of Rebirth'. It needed GM authority to be unlocked and moved, which Kirito had to a degree due to the administrator console card he still possessed. Titania allowed Kirito to keep the card which Asuna dropped down to him, if only so she didn't have to step in to help him with every little thing. Later, once things settled down more, then maybe the Chalice would be available to the rest of the players when the energy levels of Yggdrasil didn't need to be kept under tight watch.

-][-

Kora, one of the lower levelled SAO players, looked at the available options with interest. She never did like fighting against scary monsters in close combat – some people might like the adrenaline rush it brought, but she was too afraid to fight anything higher than her own level if it meant she might risk being killed. Throwing spells from afar sounded a lot safer for someone like her.

Next to her, a player wearing a black cloak stumbled as he walked past, most likely still unbalanced from being forced to sleep. Maybe the hunger was affecting him as well, since they hadn't really ate anything in days.

"Are you alright?" Kora asked concernedly, reaching out to steady him. Almost reflexively, his arm struck out and slapped her offered limb away.

"I'm fine," he growled, and then taking a deep breath to calm down. "Sorry; it's just that I'm confused right now, and not really thinking straight."

"That's alright," Kora allowed through gritted teeth, rubbing her hand that stung with pain. Whoever this guy was, he was high-levelled to the point even a casual strike from him could do a lot of damage to her – or maybe Thinker was right, and being in 'Real Life' also meant no pain-blocking functions from the game.

"By the way, I'm Kora; what's your name?"

"… Just 'Kuro'," the player replied unenthusiastically, shying away from her.

"Seriously?" Kora's mouth twitched slightly at its corners. _Isn't that the kind of name you normally give to a pet? I guess that explains his unfriendliness._

"Don't laugh at his name," a lulling voice commented from behind her. Looking back, Kora found another two men approaching her, both in the same get-up as 'Kuro' – rough black cloaks, and leather armour beneath those.

"You're hardly in a position to do so, Ms 'Cola'," the leading male said with amusement. He looked to be in his late-twenties, and handled himself like he was ready for a fight any time. "What kind of person names their alias after a brand of soft drinks?"

Kora scowled. She had only tried to pick a fantasy-sounding at the time when she logged in, and didn't even notice the similarities between the two names until others had pointed it out to her. She wasn't even thirsty at the time, too.

"I'm 'Vassago', by the way," the man said offhandedly. "You've already met 'Kuro', but I'll let the last one of us introduce himself personally."

Kora glanced at the final figure of the three. Next to her, Kuro shifted slightly as Vassago shot him a look. _Maybe Kuro was being pushed to apologize to me, or something?_

The last cloaked figure took his time, glancing around left and right. Most of the other players were out of their immediate vicinity, and the 'staff' brought along by Thinker and Argo had mostly left to accompany the other players. Then, the young man finally spoke a single word curtly:

"Sterben."

-][-

Hours later, the SAO players finished descending from the World Tree, all of them newly inducted into one or another of Alfheim's nine faerie races. Thinker, Yulier, and Agil took the time to settle the rest of the players in into Arrun, while Argo and the rest of the group she brought into ALO took the more anxious players worrying about Asuna's situation over to one of the unused Town Halls for a debriefing. After the explanations, came the resulting disbelief and more worrying:

"I don't get it," a Sylph kid asked. "Why is the Black Swordsman in charge of the efforts to rescue Asuna-san? Why is he so hung up over Asuna the Flash?"

It was a question apparent on many of the other players' faces, to varying degrees. Unsurprising, considering Asuna was like an idol for many of the players trapped within Aincrad due to her martial prowess and physical beauty. Kirito opened his mouth to answer, but paused.

"What happened between me and Asuna didn't get out to everyone?" Kirito asked Argo with a surprised frown. Kirito considered it a miracle that he and Asuna had a two week honeymoon without any interruptions as it was, but he had thought after that fishing competition at Floor 22 the news that Asuna was married would have spread like wildfire. Argo was kind enough to refrain from passing on his and Asuna's relationship in order to make obscene sums of money, but Kirito doubted every information broker in Aincrad could have resisted the temptation of something that important about the arguably Number One female player of SAO.

"Regardless of what some of the Frontliners might think of you, Kirito," Arguile, who had chosen to become a Gnome due to their decent Strength parameters, commented, "nearly every one of us held Asuna-sama in high regards; it's not just those of us in the Knights of Blood, but almost all of the 200 or so Frontliners in Aincrad thought that way too. I'd say none of the Frontliners let slip about you two's situation out of respect for Asuna-sama, and we thought the Sub-Commander needed a break from fighting all this time without any serious rest too."

"And SAO was cleared the day the two of you came out of your honeymoon," Argo added. "Not too long after that fishing event you had down at Floor 22. There just wasn't time for the fact that Asuna was married to you to sink in into the minds of everyone, so it stayed only at the level of wild rumours-"

"Woah, woah! Pause for a second here!" A different player, a mid-levelled katana-wielder exclaimed. "You guys are saying Asuna-san was married? To the Black Swordsman?"

"Er, well yeah," Kirito said, feeling like if he was still back in SAO there would be a visible sweat drop appearing at the back of his head. True to his expectations, Kirito was treated once more to a version of the reactions of the players back on Floor 22 of Aincrad after they found out that Asuna was married: stunned disbelief, being vocalized loudly in various ways.

Argo and Arguile managed to calm the assembled players down, eventually. There were still a lot of low mutterings about this topic however, and dark looks being directed over at Kirito. To Kirito's surprise, however, the majority of those reactions weren't really serious; apart from the ones that were 100% convinced Kirito was a no-good 'Beater', most of the players here grudgingly approved of Kirito being Asuna's partner. The Black Swordsman – or rather, the 'Dual-Wielding Hero of Aincrad', as he was known by the time they reached Floor 75 in Aincrad – for all his standoffish lone wolf faults, cared about other players as shown by his multiple exploits on the Frontlines throughout the two years. The most notable example within their recent memory was Kirito's near-singlehanded victory over Floor 74's Boss, 'The Gleameyes', for the sake of rescuing trapped players. Whatever the SAO tabloids had exaggerated, none of them could have refuted the fact Kirito stepped in to risk his life when he didn't have to.

"I know this is selfish of me, asking you guys who have already risked your lives before in Aincrad," Kirito began to speak; he might be stunned at the impact he had on the other players, but he wasn't beyond using it to his advantage. "I'd rather trust those who know what they're getting into and have previous experience, than dragging others into this mess. If any of you want to volunteer to help me get Asuna back from Titania, please do so. Our job would be working towards two goals: peaceful relations between us and the local people, and stability among the players. The sooner that is done, the sooner Asuna is free to go.

"Please, help me," Kirito said, bowing and lowering his head to all of them.

Murmurs and wary looks were exchanged among the SAO players Kirito addressed; they had the option of turning their back on all of it, leaving the possibility of risk behind, and nobody would blame them if they did so after all they had been through. In SAO the goal of clearing the game was there, and even back then people adjusted to life in VR imprisonment. Now their release was even more far off and indistinct, but as far as they knew there was no risk of their body atrophying away on a hospital bed somewhere to spur them into action.

"Count me in, Kirito," Arguile called out, having long made up his mind. "Asuna-sama has been looking out for all of us in the Knights of Blood, if not in the entire Frontline, for a long time. I'm not going to turn away when I have the opportunity to repay her now."

"If we're not expected to be doing life-and-death combat, count me in too," the kid who had spoken earlier said determinedly. "This guy is right about one thing at least; it's not just about the Black Swordsman, but 'Asuna the Flash' too. I'd chip in for a selfish reason like the wellbeing of someone I admire at least, if not for vague goals like 'the greater good of everyone'."

One after another, more of the players volunteered to join. Over two thirds of the assembled people promised to help, while the last of them looked hesitant but didn't want to go against the majority's decision.

"We don't need everyone to make a decision right now," Argo said, gauging their reactions. "Come back after a break to relax and think things through; we'll still be here if you still want to join then. For those of you that are committed, you're not forced to stick with your decision either. There's no pressure."

The meeting disbanded, with everyone leaving to think about it further, and to pass on what they had heard to other SAO players. The exception was Arguile, who stayed behind regardless of Argo's words.

"I meant what I've said, Kirito," Arguile said to him. "I don't need to be tested or be pushed away in case I'm in over my head."

"I'm not sure I can afford to just let you retire anyway," Kirito joked weakly. "We need everyone that's capable we can get our hands on. And having someone from the Knights of Blood on-board will hopefully boost everyone's confidence and they'll be more willing to join up."

"Not to mention handling the administration," Klein called out from off to one side. "I'm glad Arguile's with us, seeing as at least some of the others will have more time to handle combat duty instead of standing around talking. Furinkazan wasn't in charge of contacting and liaising with others back on the Aincrad Frontlines, and we're happier if it stays that way."

"You're just happy the role of 'respectable sub-leader' can now be foisted off onto someone else Klein," the Imp member of Klein's guild snarked. "Sure, Thinker is around for the admin stuff, but people look up to the higher-levelled players no matter what their planning skills might be. Arguile-san being around means you're off the hook."

"Arguile-san can handle the 'official' stuff in regards with working with the locals," Argo commented. "You're still stuck with coordinating the SAO players informally, Klein."

"Seriously?" Klein's exasperated reaction was almost comical.

"It will be a pleasure working with you all," Arguile said with a smile, and extended one hand for a handshake. "Not to mention it would be interesting seeing the Black Swordsman as someone responsible such as a 'Guild Leader'. Kirito's talents were wasted playing Solo."

"Wait, what?" Kirito said mid-handshake, alarmed. "Argo's the one responsible for everything. When did I get placed in charge of all this?"

"Since Titania made you her 'Royal Protector'," Argo said with amusement. "And, unless my access to system information via being your 'Deputy Leader' fails me, that also includes a 'Knight Order' of your own to command, 'Commander Kirito'."

Kirito's gobsmacked expression led to more chuckles around the room.

"Feel my pain and share my suffering, Kirito," Klein laughed. "Being Guild Leader isn't easy, you know?"

"I know," Kirito said with a sinking feeling, breaking off the handshake. "Why do you think I've avoided being in charge of anything throughout SAO, along with being in a guild?"

Seeing Kirito's morose expression silenced the smiles. Most of everyone there understood Kirito had some bad experiences with being in a guild before, even if they didn't know the full story between Kirito and the 'Black Cats of the Full Moon'.

"You can always delegate responsibility, Kirito," Arguile tried to break the atmosphere. "Heathcliff basically took no part in running the KoB, and we still managed alright…"

Arguile's words trailed off, as the knowledge of the Knights of Blood Commander actually being Kayaba Akihiko once again came to the surface. Kirito didn't miss the ensuing grimace on the Gnome knight's face.

"Right, delegating responsibility it is," Kirito said suddenly, calling out his Medallion and some hexagonal screens around him. "Arguile, take out your Medallion please?"

Arguile blinked, and then did as Kirito asked. Unlike once before where it required physical contact between the two ethereal objects, this time a red line of light flashed between the two of them to establish a connection. With a sound like a bell, the line vanished and a badge in the shape of a tower shield appeared floating in front of the Gnome.

"Welcome to the Yggdrasil Knights, Sub-Commander Arguile," Kirito said with a small smile. "You're basically in charge of the other SAO players that decide to join up, talking with other Faction Leaders about Mob control duties, that kind of things. I'll be counting on you from now on."

"Likewise," Arguile concurred.

"Say, does anyone know if Kii-bou is in charge of the speech-making?" Argo said mischievously. "Because Guild Leaders are supposed to do that for future recruitment drives, right?"

Kirito groaned at Argo's words, while the rest of the people present chuckled light-heartedly.

-][-

On the level of the World Tree that acted as the Faerie Lords' Mansion in the vicinity of Arrun, eight of the nine Leaders sat around a round table that rose up off of the floor with Yggdrasil's crest engraved upon it. Their seats were likewise stone columns raised from the floor, with the remaining spot left unchanged from its position on the floor. According to the Medallions, the seats when not used as such could act as a hologram projector, for when Faction Leaders couldn't be physically present for a meeting. If Thinker wished to join this meeting, he wouldn't have to return all the way to the World Tree and could present an image of himself from elsewhere instead.

Speaking of people present, only the Faction Leaders were gathered there in discussion about Titania's revelations. Their remaining aides had been sent away to take care of various things, such as working on the public announcement to give to the players, checking the various facilities on that level, and so on, allowing the Leaders to converse privately. The Leaders all had some time to think over their views on Titania's words by that point, and it was time to put some things into open discussion:

"I am wary about the idea of imprisoning players within the World Tree," Sakuya stated, chasing up a previous note she made to herself. "It's one thing to be able to remove troublemakers in a VRMMO, but it's another to shut someone away in isolation in our current situation. Especially in Remain Light form; we already know for sure from revived players that sensory deprivation happens to an extent in that form, with only a small amount of sight and sound left to you. It can't possibly be good for a person's mental health to lock someone away for weeks on end like that if Titania decided he or she had broken the rules. At least when it was only a game players could just log off and come back after their penalty is done."

"On the flipside, it means we won't have to expend any resources to feed or house the rule-breakers," Mortimer noted quietly. "With things now being in 'Real Life', we need to take supplies into account as well. Not to mention with the level of security Titania is capable of providing, players can't break out and deal more havoc; her measures are as infallible as if a player was still constrained by the game system's limits – maybe even more so, seeing as anything like hacking into the game is an impossibility now."

"I'm going to have to agree on the 'supplies' part," Pieter reluctantly concurred. "We have no guarantee trade with the locals will last indefinitely, and Titania has yet to start on the process of developing sustainable sources of 'real' food. And while alternatives like using the inexpensive baseline food and drink Titania has created for emergencies to feed them instead to avoid constraining the supplies … those are basically only nutritious slop. Those will keep your body going, but it doesn't make you feel full. I'm not sure feeding troublemakers food that not even humane prisons would resort to using is any better than not having to feed them at all. It might be better to ask Titania to adjust the imprisonment conditions to remove the sensory deprivation instead; the discomfort back in ALO are only for the purpose of impressing upon players 'dying is bad', and I'm sure when stuck in that form in the long term that discomfort is unnecessary."

"Sensory deprivation and supplies aren't the only aspects we need to worry about in this matter, though," Sasaki spoke up; the Imp Leader's complexion had become much better upon leaving the Yggdrasil Citadel. "It's also about power and authority – and whether the imprisonment process could be abused by anyone. Apart from whether Titania could be trusted in handing out the punishments, there's also whether _we_ as Faction Leaders could use this for our own benefits. I'm pretty sure when this function becomes more widely known there will be players asking if we can, or will, imprison anyone that speaks out against us."

All of the Leaders present went silent at that thought; misusing the disciplinary function on either end could be disastrous. The problem, however, was that there were no checks upon any of the Faction Leaders' influences apart from Titania – and in social matters, she had in all but name given them full authority to act on the part of the GM. Worse, there were no checks upon Titania's control and abilities either, save for whatever conscience the AI had.

Sakuya felt her eyes drift to the vacant throne over at one end of this meeting room – while that seat was more for the purpose of meeting with local dignitaries with one of the Faerie Lords, if any were ever allowed and invited up to that particular room, it was a silent reminder of Titania's influence over them all. Asking Titania about the conditions of the ALO systems in their meeting previously had given them all a crash course on the composition of the ALO AIs; the main overall system was named Cardinal, and it had other subroutines incorporated into it, making decisions such as balancing monster drops and difficulty, writing Quests, and so on. To act as a check upon Cardinal, a part of its subroutine went over all of Cardinal's actions and could stop the main program if necessary.

That balance however had been thrown out after the Transition; Cardinal and all of its subroutines were shut down completely, except for one subroutine known as 'Titania'. There was no other subroutine available to check over Titania's decisions at that moment, so the 'Fairy Queen' by game lore might as well hold the position in reality; everything they did would only be allowed if she saw no problems with it.

By extension, that power carried over to the nine 'Faerie Lords'. De facto control over a large city, access to Mob troops that would do just about anything they said unquestioningly, and the resources of an entire Faction; the power they wielded was not insignificant. And that wasn't taking into account potentially 'Endgame' assets like the Guardian Spirits available to them. In theory, if the way to be given authority – or be removed from it – wasn't encoded into the remains of the game system, all nine of them could rule like tyrants even in the face of 0% support from the rest of their own Faction.

Sakuya personally felt that amount of power, rather than humbling, was more _terrifying_. Alicia and Simon felt that as keenly as she did. Morgiana did too, even if she tried to hide her unease under her casual exterior. Thinker, Sasaki, and Pieter were the more reserved and assertive among them in the face of handling this much power, though in the Sylph Leader's eyes her Puca counterpart leaned more towards Rufus' opinion than her own.

The Leprechaun Leader openly embraced the authority given to him, and wished to use it to the fullest extent 'for the good of his Faction and everyone'. Sakuya was unsure if Rufus truly meant that, or if it was just a front to justify remaining in control of all his current power. His opinions were extreme in her views, his methods too heavy-handed; if Rufus was the one in charge of dealing with the locals, Sakuya feared he would push things too far into open war in his pursuit for maximized gains.

As for Mortimer… in some ways, Sakuya was more cautious of the Salamander's Leader than the Leprechaun's. In terms of pure leadership, Mortimer was superior to that of nearly everyone else present as he advanced the Salamanders into the strongest Faction within ALO, even if not by an insurmountable margin; and not all of that was due to the natural advantage of the Salamanders' base stats for combat, relying on that aptitude to farm rare drops to empower his troops.

Mortimer also accepted the new authority given to them by Titania without qualms, even if he wasn't as loud as Rufus about it. _Beware of the quiet ones,_ Sakuya thought; the kimono-clad Leader knew that despite appearances the Sylphs were the more verbose in the alliance with the Cait Sith back in ALO, it didn't mean Alicia was any less sharp. In fact, Alicia was probably a better Leader than Sakuya was – and Mortimer shared this same dynamic between the Sylphs and the Cait Sith, being content to stay in the shadows and let someone else be the public face. This was done even within his own Faction, as Mortimer propped up Eugene as the charismatic leader who took risks and fought on the front. Mortimer, his cunning plans aside, was seen to be in charge of the Faction only so that anyone that took down Eugene wouldn't lead to Gatan being sacked by another Faction.

Sakuya shuddered as she remembered Mortimer's role in the display Eugene gave to Gatan before the 'Blazing General' left the his Capital; it was manipulative to the extreme, and Mortimer had cause to take things even further if he desired vengeance against Tristain for their attack on Gatan. The man was cautious, and called for reason over emotional response – but it was likely all it meant was if reason stated the Salamanders had no doubt Tristain couldn't defeat them, Mortimer would wring the locals dry.

Thus far, the ALO players held no real information about the true combat capability of the people of Halkeginia compared with their own, as the locals shied away from any conflict with the 'flying elves'; for all they know Halkeginia was an Death World filled with Epic 'Dungeon and Dragons' characters – or something like that, as Sakuya didn't know the jargon of 'D&D' as some of her college friends called it too well – and it was only the reputation of the local elves saving the ALO players from a swift and painful rout. Duchess Valliere could have been an elite of Halkeginia, or not even someone special by local terms – and until more information was gathered, defaulting to war could be an incredibly bad idea. For all of Titania's planning and countermeasures, upgrading their own capabilities to the upper limits of what Yggdrasil would be capable of installing from the start, it may well all be for naught compared to what Tristain might possess. Mortimer knew this too, and was willing to bide his time and wait for more information to be obtained before making his move.

"So what if we have power and influence beyond anyone else's?" Rufus put forward, uncaring of everyone's worries. "It's not like people don't deal with it in real life; some leaders of First World nations can stamp out any opposition with the kind of resources they possess, and all that's stopping them from using it is whatever ideals they have and the 'bigger stick' that is the combined power of everyone else – _if_ others intervene directly at all. Besides, if the players have a problem with it they can just vote us out – the way things are set up right now it's not a matter of if we _want_ to rig the vote, but that we _can't_, period."

"That's assuming Titania is trustworthy," Pieter replied cautiously. "_We_ can't mess with the system – but _she_ can. Titania's the one that built it and has sole control over it, after all. 'What's stopping her from keeping people she favours in power?' – we'll need to find a way to explain that to everyone who asks that, beyond using 'that's the way it is, deal with it'. People tend to favour democracy, if only to avoid possible tyrants."

"However it goes in real life, the relationship between a GM and its players is definitely _not_ democratic," Rufus shrugged. "The GM does whatever it wants, and if the players don't like it well tough luck; how many players have petitioned RECTO to lower the difficulty of the Grand Quest, only for them to say 'it is not going to happen'? In our current situation, there isn't even the possibility of economic threats to the company by getting enough people saying 'do this or we all quit the game' – not that it'll work anyway, it's not like ALO is a game that you had to pay membership fees to keep playing.

"Bottom line, all we _can_ say is 'that's the way it is, deal with it'; not even voting us out of office will do anything to help. It doesn't matter if we Leaders or the rest of the players trust Titania or not, because realistically speaking taking her out of the equation isn't going to happen."

"I'd prefer it if you don't put it that bluntly, Rufus," Mortimer murmured. "That'll only cause other players to become needlessly discontent with our current situation. I'd prefer not to be forced to do something like imposing a lockdown or martial law upon Arrun as well, establishing our rule only by virtue of overwhelming military power – even if we have a sizable amount of World Tree Guardians at our disposal."

"You mean you did that back in Gatan?" Alicia asked, her eyes narrowing. Most of the others present sent Mortimer wary gazes at this statement.

"You try keeping a lid on the calls for blood if Freelia was the one devastated by an enemy attack," Mortimer said wearily. "I had to make sure nobody left Gatan without my permission for a day or two, in case they took their anger out on the first local settlement they saw; and that would have dragged all of us into a downward spiral of one retaliation after another between our two sides. At least having them only blow up things within Gatan and attacking other players meant there was a much lower risk of lasting damage."

"And it allowed everyone else you're in charge of to see with their own eyes that you're punishing people that actually did things wrong, instead of pinning non-existent crimes onto those that disagree with you," Rufus said shrewdly. "Nobody can really say anything if they saw the damage from the aggressive players themselves – especially if they're the ones caught up by the attacks. It must be nice, that your enemies are impulsive enough to be prodded into dancing to your tune."

"Must you twist everything I say into something else like I'm a criminal mastermind?" Mortimer sighed exasperatedly. "And shouldn't that last remark be used against the Puca instead?"

"It loses that 'oomph' if he does use it on us, considering we can indeed do that to an extent," Pieter said airily. "Confuse and causing various other debuffs is what we do, after all, even if we're not as proficient as the Imps are in this department."

"Don't try to pin all those on us," Sasaki protested. "We've got some race-specific debuffs available only for us, yeah, but your bands still shell out more debuffs per minute than we can."

Things degenerated into casual chatter for a moment, as keeping up a serious demeanour for an extended period of time was tiring. In the midst of taking the chance to stretch and removing some stiffness from her shoulders however, Sakuya noticed something:

Mortimer never did deny Rufus' alternative explanations about his reasoning.

"Right, I guess it's obvious that we're not going to be able to convince everyone about what's the best thing to do," Morgiana said with a shrug, before Sakuya decided on further pursuing her line of thought. "Unless you guys want to take it to a vote right now to make a decision, I think we're kinda stuck."

"Though whatever we do decide on, it's not going to be irreversible," Sasaki mused. "Given enough votes from us, just about anything can be changed; apart from a few exceptions like the anti-harassment code and the Resurrection function."

"Alternatively, the ALO players can force a Referendum if they don't like what we've decided on as a whole," Mortimer speculated. "The wonders of near-zero costs in getting a population to be able to vote on an issue, and 100% contactable rates due to the Medallion. If everyone has read the Manual, they'll be able to affect things even without our input. We don't necessarily have the full weight of responsibility on us, given how everyone can affect the process in a nontrivial way if they wish to."

"Speaking of Referendums," Pieter asked curiously. "Didn't the Salamanders try to pull that one on you when you locked Gatan down?"

"A third of the faction signed the petition for removing the lockdown, and over 40% of the Faction at one point voted 'No Confidence' in me over the last few days," Mortimer admitted. "It was touch and go for a day or so for me, being close to losing my position. Though as expected, after a few days cooling their heads most of them realized going off on a killing spree, no matter the reason, is not a good idea in Real Life. I still have a constant 20% that wants me out of my position, but that's not much worse than what I usually have. I might not have much 'social capital' compared to the rest of you, but I have enough to stay in office as Faction Leader."

"That's got to be tough for you," Rufus commiserated with his Salamander counterpart. "Doing the right thing and not being appreciated for it."

Sakuya clamped down on her increasing irritation; for some reason, the thought of Rufus allied with Mortimer like how she was with Alicia had put her in a foul mood.

"Are we going to vote on this, or not?" Morgiana asked impatiently, drawing everyone's attention. "Because if not, I'm gonna go get some food first and then make my way down to Jotunheim with the Black Hawks. I can vote just as well from down there compared to sitting here discussing things."

"You should have been a Salamander with that straightforward attitude, Morgiana," Mortimer shook his head. "I can see why there are rumours out there suggesting my brother's enamoured with you."

"I'm not someone that's satisfied with only sitting around talking," Morgiana shrugged. "Especially when we're not getting anywhere."

"Though the matter stands, if we choose to remove the possibility of side-lining players like so, then alternatives will have to be found-"

"Save worrying about that until _after_ we vote, Pieter," Morgiana waved off the Puca's concerns. "Because right now as things go I don't think there are enough votes to change the current plans anyway."

"Depending on what the alternatives are, however, it'll affect how we might vote for it or not," Sasaki interjected. "But alright, let us vote on whether the concept of locking players up in the World Tree is agreeable or not first, and work out the details afterwards."

A screen soon lighted up in front of each of them, asking the question:

_'Should the players, who have broken the rules to the extent that they need to be isolated, be transformed into Remain Light form?'_

Below the message was a green icon with a circle in it below, accompanying a red icon with a cross. And in case the symbols and colours weren't enough, under the icons were the captions 'Yes' and 'No'. Sakuya took a brief look at the familiar set-up, and made her choice instantly.

The results were shown instantly upon a holographic projector, portraying a tally above the round table. Sakuya, Alicia, Morgiana and Thinker who was elsewhere had chosen 'No', but the rest of the Faerie Lords had picked 'Yes'.

"Before anyone starts, no, I wouldn't have picked this option if there had been no mentions of changing the locked up conditions," Sasaki said, meeting Sakuya's eyes steadily. "Obviously, if the conditions were staying the same as back in ALO I would have voted 'No' as well. Even more so if this process carried the same risk of brain damage as dying in our current situation. But if all issues like those can be resolved, I have no problems with isolating players so others can be safe."

Simon nodded timidly at Sasaki's words, though from his reluctant face it was clear he only picked 'Yes' because there wasn't a 'let me think about this more' option available. Pieter held much less hesitation than the Gnome Leader, but as his concerned expression showed even his opinion wasn't without reservations. Out of the Leaders who voted against Sakuya's choice, only Rufus and Mortimer appeared to unwaveringly believe their vote was the correct one, even if talks of modifying the imprisonment environment hadn't been brought up.

"Don't feel too bad, Sakuya-san," Pieter said not unkindly. "At least six of us were needed to make this an outcome Titania would accept; five out of nine is too uncertain for her to accept, considering how easy it might be for one of us to change their minds and reverse the position. Making changes, according her, costs energy from the World Tree's reserves and isn't as easily done as back in the game. This matter isn't over yet."

"Even so, that's that for today," Morgiana said, standing up and grabbing her spear. "I'll see you all later – I've had enough talking and thinking for one day."

"Morgiana, when Eugene gets here please schedule your hunts outside of the Faction Leader meeting times," Mortimer requested, also standing up in preparation to leave. "Jotunheim doesn't need to be cleared within a certain time period, after all. There's no rush for getting loot."

"I'll keep that in mind," Morgiana said briefly, and exited the door.

Sakuya wanted to call out to ask the Spriggan Leader to stop for a moment, maybe talk things over while they ate, when Alicia tugged on Sakuya's sleeves. Looking down, Sakuya found the small Cait Sith girl shaking her head slightly, wordlessly suggesting Sakuya abandon that plan for the moment.

_'That's her own way of coping,'_ Alicia mouthed, cautious in making sure no-one else sees her lips. _'Give her time.'_

Sakuya's eyebrows furrowed slightly for a moment, before rising up in realization; unlike Simon, or to a lesser extent Sasaki and Pieter, Morgiana didn't make up her mind about Titania's revelations by worrying over it like nursing a glass of wine. The Spriggan Leader was someone more physically active, and preferred to deal with things in an likewise manner – Morgiana's haste in leaving was probably less about her dislike of discussions, and more so she could surround herself in more familiar circumstances like conducting a Boss raid, as if she was back in ALO. Though Sakuya questioned the viability of using dangerous combat as a method for coping…

The Sylph's Leader felt a headache coming on; not even she was immune to the stress of adapting to their new situation. All Sakuya could do was hope Morgiana and her guild would be alright – and if one of the foremost combat-orientated guilds in ALO couldn't get out of this coming battle intact, it would paint a dire picture of things to come in the future.

* * *

AN: While Kirito's moniker is 'Dual-Wielding Hero', going by proper translations it's strictly 'Two Swords Style Hero'; I'm using the former mostly because it sounds better this way.

On a side note, Klein's guild has more than just 7 members; SAO LN Vol2 had this particular segment in the Red Nosed Reindeer chapter: "What appeared was a group of 10 people, and standing right in front was a samurai guy in light armor, a katana on his waist, and a headscarf—Klein.  
The main members of the Fuurinkazan guild each looked nervous as they moved closer to me from the warp point behind them. I continued to look at Klein's face and squeeze out a hoarse voice."

The number of people in Furinkazan will be somewhat important later on in FiF.


	15. Chapter 15

_AN_: Thanks for LordsFire for his fast and high quality beta-ing. There are spoilers for late-ZnT plot in this chapter, so if readers here haven't read Vol19-20 spoilers (Available on SpaceBattles Forum, link in the thread 'ZnT Back to Basics') it might be useful to do so. To a lesser extent, at least finish watching the SAO anime (or for SAO LN-readers, finish Vol4) before you read this chapter, as spoilers abound.

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen**

-][-

Kayaba Akihiko, the mastermind responsible for the creation of the MMORPG Sword Art Online and its subsequent transformation into a death game, smiled in wry amusement as he took in his situation. Upon transferring his consciousness into Virtual Reality and the internet on Earth, having 'The Seed' being hijacked and transferred to a different world was something not even Kayaba could have expected.

His dream of creating a different reality had come to pass in a sense; the game mechanics had become 'real', with events affecting the senses and mind of players beyond anything VR could have imitated. The matter of life and death for players was completely bypassed due to the actions of 'Titania', but Kayaba didn't care much about that; he wished for a different world, one where it was as 'real' to people as the mundane reality everyone had to live in – that effect was achieved by whatever the intrusion into the Alfheim Online systems did and the alteration done with The Seed. Kayaba used death as a means to the end of creating the illusion of things being real, and with that goal achieved he had no attachment to the redundant method he used earlier. Though if there was one regret from Kayaba it was that Aincrad, the world he wished to create, was not the world that had been brought to life but a different dream instead. If the intruder had attacked earlier, when he was still 'Heathcliff', Commander of the Knights of Blood and the hidden GM of SAO… things could have been different.

A jolt to his senses reminded Kayaba of the more immediate concerns for him. In the aftermath of the Transition, the intruder who had hacked into ALO attempted to take control of the ALO game systems over at the World Tree; it was Kayaba and the remnants of Cardinal that continually deflected the assault, for almost an entire week non-stop. It was fortunate that as a 'ghost' in the system, Kayaba didn't need to eat or sleep in order to perform at his best. The subroutine Cardinal split off to take care of the other players couldn't detect the rest of Cardinal's activities, and had written off the larger system as damaged; though that assumption was partially true. Kayaba had to repair Cardinal himself on the fly, even as he defended the World Tree.

The intruder was powerful, Kayaba could admit that; he had processing power above even that of Cardinal's. However, the intruder lacked the finesse of Cardinal's manipulations, brute-forcing whenever he could. The intruder also lacked knowledge of how to conduct electronic information warfare, even if things were more 'magic' than 'electronic' at that point. For all of the intruder's strength, he was constantly blindsided by the myriad of tricks and traps Kayaba laid out for him, turning the ALO systems into a nigh-impregnable fortress.

For some reason, even the strength of the intruder seemed to be faltering as time progressed. Kayaba was content to continue to play the defensive game, and observe the situation for a while longer…

-][-

Bidashal, Chief of the Nephthys Clan and a member of the Senate of the elves' country, Nadis, sat quietly as debate raged between the other Senators. An emergency had been called upon the destruction of the Seals on Shaitan's Gate, once news had reached Adel, the elves' Capital city. Like looking into a mirror, the two sides of the room held similar seats and tables, layered like a set of stairs.

Of the nearly fifty Senators, Esmael of the Demir Clan was the most vehemently outspoken; he called for an immediate assault upon the human's territory, claiming the Seals being broken was the Devils' work. Prior to the disaster that struck Shaitan's Gate, the only time within the last 6,000 years the Gate was that active was when Brimir was alive. The elves' efforts were succeeding in slowly sealing away the Gate throughout the past days, but not without price:

"We need to crush the humans, before they could recreate the calamity that occurred before!" Esmael shouted. "We have already lost thousands of our finest warriors in our current efforts to reseal Shaitan's Gate, with the unholy power of the Devil's spawn continually eating away at the Great Purpose's blessings and at our sentinels. Our people suffered greatly the last time Shaitan's Gate opened, with our already small numbers reduced by half! Kill them all, before they bring their evil power to bear once more!"

"That is a disgustingly _human_ line of thought," Senator Selim of the Tilki Clan sneered in response from his side of the room. "The Great Purpose does not condone needless bloodshed. Only against the Devil's spawn and their misguided Markay kin do we raise weapons pre-emptively; slaughtering the weak like the rest of the humans is not the way of the Nadis."

"Your eyes are blinded by your greed, Senator!" Esmael retorted angrily. "Do you place so much importance on trade from the humans' caravans that you've forgotten our place, _human-lover_?"

"_My_ people aren't the ones who had one of their allies ran off to mate with a human, Esmael," Selim countered with a leer, resulting in mocking laughter from around the senate chamber. Esmael spluttered red-faced, but neither him or the rest of the Senators in his 'Iron Blood Alliance' faction could refute Selim's claim.

"Who was it that allied with the Hadart Clan, whose daughter Sajarl run away from, hmm?" Selim called out. "Bad enough she disgraced herself as a race-traitor, staining the honour of the Hadart and removing them from this Senate… but when she left she also stole the 'Sacred Sword Derflinger', the favoured weapon of our Saint Anubis!"

Bidashal tuned out the rest of Selim's pandering to the audience; he had already heard the story countless times. Esmael's faction could never get the moral victory in the debates, not after 'The Pearl of Hadart' deserted them. Even if that had occurred two decades ago, going by the lifespans of an elf it had not been that long past. Racial purity was important to the elves, and all race-traitors had led to their head of Clan removed from authority by extension of their punishments – which consequently, as Clan leaders were almost always de facto Senators of Nadis, meant they were also removed from the Senate; the disgraced Clan was still part of the nation, but they were shunned by the rest and had almost no say about how to guide their country forward.

That Derflinger was also stolen only made things worse for the shame Sajarl brought on anyone related to her. Being the blade that slayed Brimir, the elves guarded the relic weapon jealously instead of allowing the Spirit Sword to be lost; of all the elven weapons, Derflinger was the one most unlikely to end up in human hands, being placed in a vault elsewhere or, heavens forbid, sold off like mundane wares in a dingy shop. Occasionally other Spirit Swords were lost to the humans, true, but in the handful of times Derflinger's presence had been necessary for war the relic weapon had never come close to being lost.

With how heavily guarded Derflinger was, it was a miracle Sajarl had successfully broken into the 'Temple of Weaponmasters', and another one for Derflinger to have disappeared with her – the Spirit Sword accepted only wielders up to his standards, being known to teach only the elves exceptionally gifted in the skill of melee combat. He had thousands of years of swordsmanship experience to draw upon, and it was one of the highest honours among the elves as a warrior to have been taught by Derflinger. Relic weapons of his age no longer existed by Bidashal's lifetime. While Derflinger didn't use that ability upon his students, save for nudges occasionally to correct their stances and forms, he could have possessed any thief that was foolish enough to try stealing him and personally delivered the culprit into the hands of the law.

Bidashal sighed inaudibly, as predictably in response to Selim's taunts Esmael roared back about how the Iron Blood Alliance worked to improve the Navy and Army of Nadis, with them doing more to advance the country than useless merchants who only rested upon their ancestors' efforts. Ruminating about the past could wait; they had a crisis to settle at that moment.

"Enough," the Speaker of the Senate called for order as the argument became even more heated. "Enough!"

"Are the Senators and Chiefs of Nadis only children, unable to stop bickering even in face of a calamity?" A wizened old elf called out, stepping out of a corridor leading into the chamber. "Our ancestors will weep in shame if they see their descendants fight among themselves like so, when they fought back against the Devil and worse personally."

"Guide Dulu", Bidashal said respectfully to the elder, in the silence that ensued after the ancient elf's words. Despite the elves' distaste for concepts such as 'the divine right to rule' or 'royal' bloodlines, it didn't mean they had abandoned the idea of a single leader. Rather than anything as presumptuous as 'King' or 'Queen', the overall leader of the elves held the name 'Guide of Nadis' and was elected from among the Senators to lead Nadis for a fixed term. "Our apologies, for letting you see such a shameful display."

"Hmm," Dulu responded shortly. Then, after ascertaining he had the full attention of the Senators, Dulu spoke once more:

"The reasoning of both sides have their merits," Dulu said. "The elves, now and always, have followed the Great Purpose's merciful will – and we won't bend on our beliefs like our ill-mannered Goblin cousins or the friendless Vampires using excuses like 'for the sake of our survival'. For foul Brimir has slain too many other races with that reasoning, even before he attempted to do the same to us.

"However, that does not mean we should tie our hands and limit ourselves. Send word out to our people: Evil has stirred, to once again plague the Sahara and the world beyond it. Amass our forces, beyond what we need to reseal Shaitan's Gate, even if we may not have to resort to use them to strike at the barbarians to our West. What we need now, more than military might, is _information_.

"Senator Bidashal," Dulu directed his words at the Chief of Nephthys. "As you are the Chairman of the 'Barbarian Response Committee', I expect your subordinates will be crucial in gathering intelligence in the coming days. While your people won't be the only ones we will rely on, suffice to say the fate of all Sahara may hinge upon your people's efforts. Do not let us down."

"As the Great Purpose wills," Bidashal said dutifully. "I will be leading the fact-finding expeditions into the humans' lands myself in the coming days. May our people successfully put this calamity to rest once more."

-][-

At the inn in Arrun, Leafa waited alone in the room she shared with Kirito and Yui as she prepared for sleep. Her brother had been gone for the entire day, first for the meeting of the Faction Leaders, and then in the afternoon helping to settle the SAO players in into Arrun. While Leafa had tagged along with Kirito in his duties over the past few days, acting as back-up if it ever came down to a fight or to provide information on ALO, Leafa wasn't able to go with him in his meetings that day. Titania denied entry to the top of the World Tree from anyone except the people directly under the Faction Leaders, the Leaders themselves, or Kirito and Yui; so Leafa couldn't follow Kirito. Afterwards, when Kirito came down from the World Tree with the other SAO players, Leafa felt like she was out of place; there were so many people that shared her brother's experiences, had been his allies, that it didn't feel right to barge in. Leafa had felt that over the past few days as well, such as when other SAO players were able to back Kirito up in a fight, or when Argo and some of the Black Hawks' Spriggan members were filling him in on the ALO details; there was nothing Leafa felt she could provide that Kirito couldn't find elsewhere.

With her usual way of spending the day unavailable to Leafa for that day, she had volunteered herself for the day to teach some of the lowered levelled players how to perform voluntary flight; the one-handed flight aid controller could be called out of the Medallion if players still wished to use it, but with one hand occupied it limited their combat options somewhat. Of the players that joined the class Leafa was responsible for, most of them were volunteers to go out on Mob-control duties and wished to improve themselves – they were focused on their learning, and didn't provide much trouble for the Sylph swordswoman. It was easier teaching them than it had been trying to teach Recon, in Leafa's opinion.

KoKo, the Cait Sith huntress that had accompanied her and the others when they first went to the Tristain Academy of Magic, had been out on Mob-control duties instead. The short woman's knowledge about Mobs and how to deal with them was very helpful when it came to exterminating the hostile ones, and for attempts on capturing others that could be bred for various reagents later on. Other Cait Sith who held similar expertise, or even better, held a high stat in the Taming skill, were eagerly recruited by the various patrol groups or guilds, as bringing back a live and useful Mob to the Faerie Lords' administration gave them a reward larger than for just bringing back its remains. There had even been talks about more players not from the Cait Sith race trying to pick up the Taming skill, as despite the previous limits back in ALO for those outside the beast tamer Faction, it would be very profitable even for other faeries to learn it in their new situation.

Despite working outside of Arrun however, KoKo had dropped by during one of her breaks to see if Leafa was doing alright. For some reason she was worried about Leafa, and had commented on the blonde Sylph had been looking down recent days. While Leafa hadn't managed to convince KoKo that everything was alright, the Sylph teenager had been able to convince KoKo to postpone talking about it for the time being.

Dull thuds came from the door, interrupting Leafa's thoughts:

"Sugu?" Kirito asked in a quiet voice. "May I come in?"

"Yes, of course, Onii-chan," Leafa replied, having finished changing into her pyjamas already. The door opened, allowing an exhausted Spriggan teen to step inside the room, with Yui perched on top of Kirito, looking as worried for him as Leafa did.

"Is something wrong?" Leafa asked anxiously. She had thought Kirito would be happier with the other SAO players released, but her brother appeared as forlorn as the day previous, if not more. Leafa wondered just what could have happened to him earlier that day to have made him still feel that way.

"… It's nothing," Kirito said tiredly, shrugging out of his Black Wyrm Coat. "It's been a long day, that's all."

Leafa glanced towards Yui, and the pixie grimaced. Whatever had made Kirito that way, Yui didn't know for sure what the cause was.

"Kiri-, Onii-chan," Leafa began to say in response to the small AI's look. "You know you can count on me as well, right? I know you've got Argo-san and everyone else from when you were in Sword Art Online to support you too, but if there's anything you don't want to talk with them about it you can talk about it with me. You don't have to shoulder anything by yourself, you know?"

"Thanks for the offer, but… that won't be necessary," Kirito sighed. "It wouldn't be fair if I burden you with my problems, not with things between us still as messy as it is-"

"So it's alright with me to burden you with my problems, but not the other way around?" Leafa said bitterly. Kirito flinched at Leafa's tone of voice. "The only thing 'not fair' about this is how you're trying to take up as much responsibility as you can, and blaming yourself for everything. You've said I can come and talk with you about anything if I wanted to; why won't you accept the same from me?"

"But that's-" Kirito started, but then stopped when he took a look at Leafa's face:

His sister was on the verge of tears, speaking about the topic at hand.

"I don't want you to be hurt," Kirito finally said in a quiet voice. "I care about you, Sugu. And seeing you being around me, being in pain as nothing is being resolved due to the circumstances… no, due to my own cowardice."

Kirito clenched his hands into tight fists.

"I'm just using Asuna's condition as an excuse to put this off for later. Over the last few days, going through all the jobs I had to do for Titania and thinking about what I will be willing to do… I already know what my reply will be. I didn't need my reality to restart to know what to do about this; the reason why I want to have Asuna with me now before I give you my reply was that I will be able to have someone with me that won't make me feel like the worst person there could be when I do so. But you deserve to know, without me making your suffering last even longer…"

The Black Swordsman gritted his teeth. Self-loathing was evident from his expression, and his body trembled as he spoke. Yui, having floated down onto a bed from her perch on top of Kirito's head earlier, quailed at the emotional feedback she was receiving from her adoptive parent.

"I'm sorry, Sugu; I love Asuna. I can't return your feelings, because my heart belongs to someone else completely. I held back from speaking clearly days ago because I didn't want to see you hurt at the end of this."

Stab.

Twist.

Leafa knew what the likely outcome for Kirito's answer was already, but despite that, hearing the words out loud didn't make it any less excruciating.

"Hate me, curse me; I wouldn't blame you if you do. Just cut me away so I won't ever be able to hurt you again-"

Kirito's words was cut off as Leafa threw herself at him, embracing Kirito tightly; for all the quick reflex Kirito had honed during his time as a Frontliner, a speed-build Sylph could give him a run for his money in straight line movements. Kirito stumbled, and tried to right himself and not be knocked over by Leafa's tackle.

"You idiot…" Leafa choked out through her tears, which were flowing freely from her eyes; and not solely because of the rejection. "How can I _ever_ hate you, Onii-chan? Even if you love Asuna-san, that doesn't change how I still love you."

Leafa buried her face into Kirito's shoulders.

"It hurts knowing you only have eyes for someone else, yeah; but it hurts even _more_ to be pushed away by you. To feel that I'm not wanted around, that you don't want to have anything to do with me. It hurts more than anything to see you suffer, Onii-chan, and that you won't allow anyone to help you no matter what.

"And I feel so **useless**!" Leafa bawled. "I can't do anything to help you; you've got all your friends from back in SAO to help out. Sakuya-san, Alicia-san, and Morgiana-san have given you their support as Faction Leaders as well. I can't even care for you as family because you have Yui to look after you!"

The 'Mental Health Counselling Program' AI flinched at Leafa's wail near the end, her eyes opening wide and her mouth hung loose in shock.

"Please, don't leave me behind," Leafa sobbed, squeezing Kirito to her closely. "I don't care if you don't love me back. I don't care if staying close to you means my heart feels like it's being ripped apart. Just, please, let me stay with you; I don't think I can handle it if you don't want me around at all…"

"Sugu…" Kirito said miserably, returning her hug. "I'm sorry. I'm _so_ sorry…"

The Kirigaya siblings held on to each other for a long time afterwards, seeking solace in each other's arms despite how it did nothing to heal their hearts. Nearby, Yui gasped as she was floored by Kirito's emotions, her small form trembling as she lied belly-down on the bed. Even if Yui had wanted to join in the embrace, to maybe try and give Kirito and Leafa some measure of comfort, her body couldn't move under the weight of his emotional pain. Yui stayed where she was, biting her lower her lips in worry about the other two in the room, and unable to do anything about the intensely personal matter between them.

After some time, Leafa's crying slowed.

"Why can't we go back to the last time we were like this…?" Leafa whispered despondently, mostly to herself. "Back to how I can just support you from the sidelines, and I didn't know fully how much you loved Asuna-san…?"

Kirito had no reply to that.

-][-

Titania closed the screen in front of her, and sunk further back into her bed. She was propped up in a large bed, with the mattress and pillows so soft it was literally 'fit for a Queen'. None of the material comfort mattered to the AI to begin with however, and upon the scenes she had witnessed it became of even less importance.

One of Titania's recent changes was trying to implement ways to fix the players' mental wellbeing; MHCP-001 had refused to help, so alternatives were needed. Eventually, the physical needs of the players would be met, and she could focus on other matters as well. Due to ALO lacking the MHCP AI series, or even the advanced infrastructure for detecting and gathering players' emotional data such as the one in SAO, it would be a large undertaking.

Her first test subject was Kirito, due to his closeness to Titania as her representative. Yui had also requested for the Royal Protector to be under surveillance, and for a copy of all of Kirito's data to be sent to her after initial foundations were laid out. Even with the pixie's closeness to Kirito, there would be times where she would not be next to the Spriggan swordsman and she wished to keep a close eye on him as much as possible, for some reason. Titania wished for the same, though in her case it was so she could have some advanced warning if Kirito became… problematic, and needed to be removed from his position.

Thus, through Kirito's Medallion, which was active even when not visibly called out, Titania heard everything Kirito had said with his Sylph sister that night. The Fairy Queen's face was as indecipherable as the emotional data gathered, as that part of the mental health system was still under construction.

Ultimately, Titania abandoned her thoughts on the matter and went to sleep. A flesh and blood body needed rest to function, as unfortunate as it was in the eyes of the AI.

-][-

A dream.

_where am i_

A misty night, near a waterway.

_am i dead_

A black-clad swordsman.

_Kirito…_

A promise.

"You won't die…"

_my love_

_are you alright_

_where are you_

**Pain.**

**A blinding headache, as if her head was filled to the point where it felt like it would burst-!**

-][-

Titania woke up with a gasp, one hand went up to press against her forehead. Pain felt like it pulsed within her skull, and the Fairy Queen panted heavily.

Uneasy dreams were not alien to Titania; ever since she had woken up within that gilded cage, she had not had a night without one such dream. Flashes of scenes she had never experienced and confusing emotions were within her during those dreams, though that night was the first time they had been that clear.

_Are these really only dreams?_ Titania wondered as her breath calmed. _It seemed to be too precise to be only that…_

Titania felt she could relate to how some humans took chemical compounds to allow them to sleep easier, despite the health hazards involved. Though even if those were available to her, Titania would have spurned them; she already has enough things affecting her mind, without adding more complications into them. Enchanted Sleep as an aid was out of the question, too, considering as a 'Final Boss' the various status effects tended to not affect her.

Moving her hand away, Titania groaned softly and tried to return to slumber. Not for the first time, the Fairy Queen inwardly bemoaned the necessity of sleep physical beings required.

* * *

_AN_: For partial spoilers about Titania's situation, go read 'The Day After' SAO side story. Otherwise, wait for possibly a few more months for me to get to explain the exact details of what's happening in-story.

In ZnT translation, 'Tribe' might fit better than elves' 'Clan', but Clan sounds better in-story so I'm using it for now *sweatdrop* Similarly, 'Spirit Swords' should literally be translated as 'Sentient/Conscious Swords' (意识剑), but I prefer the earlier name better.

On a side note, as I've mentioned elsewhere on SpaceBattles I'm bad with names; 'Sajarl' (夏佳尔) is the name of Tiffania's mother, supposedly meaning 'Pearl'. I have no idea if there should be a better spelling here, so it's subject to change. Other names I'm unsure of that has ZnT LN canon roots include: Adel (阿迪卢), the elves' capital; Hadart (哈达特); Esmael (埃斯迈尔); and Dulu (杜卢). The ZnT elves' society and names reference a lot to the real-life Ottoman Empire, going by research done by other SB forumites, so I'm not sure if these names have any source in the Egyptian or Turkish language.

Other names, like Nephthys and Nadis, I can translate but am not 100% certain I want to keep them; it seemed to have been chosen by the ZnT author because of the 'Rule of Cool', and 'foreign language sounds interesting'. Again, these are subject to change.


	16. Chapter 16

_AN:_ Thanks to LordsFire for Beta-ing, as usual.

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen**

-][-

The day after Leafa's heart-to-heart with Kirito, the Black Swordsman took his sister down with him into Jotunheim. Leafa was given a set of Ancient Warrior equipment the Sylphs possessed for the trip, and Kirito was once again in the Runebound armour Titania bestowed upon him. They, Yui, and Morgiana with a dozen elite members of her Black Hawks guild entered through the eastern entrance of Jotunheim, 15 kilometres away from Arrun – the Spriggan Leader and her raid teams had already cleared the boss guarding the entrance on that side of Jotunheim the day before.

"Leafa," Kirito said to his sister absently as he checked their surroundings for possible enemies. "Can you try calling for Tonkii, please?"

"Okay," Leafa nodded, not quite able to meet Kirito's eyes. On one hand, Leafa was glad Kirito was going out of his way to include her in his work, seeing as Kirito alone could probably have called out Tonkii himself. On the other hand Leafa felt guilty that she was sticking so close to him. Her presence next to him was probably a constant reminder of the painful consequences to his choice, how no matter what there wouldn't be a happy end for everyone.

The Sylph within the group whistled once, and waited anxiously for their 'tamed' Winged Beast God type Mob to arrive. Their main goal on that excursion was to see whether Tonkii continued to be friendly to players post-Transition, and if the Beast Gods could be used as part of the clearing groups down there. Morgiana's raid teams had managed to defeat the Evil God-class guard stationed over on the east side's entrance the previous day, and other raid teams had managed to do the same to the north and west upon the Faction Leaders' announcement of the situation in Jotunheim and the requests for aid.

Though even if Tonkii could help out in clearing Jotunheim using its thunderbolt attacks, Titania had already plainly outlined in the Manuals using Beast God Mobs to clear Jotunheim would give a reduced amount of reward points; as not every guild would have a Beast God to help them clear, thus the uneven distribution of powerful assets would only lead to lack of efficiency as guilds 'rage-quit' helping to clear Jotunheim if they were vastly behind the leading guilds. The low amount of tamed powerful Mobs in Jotunheim at that point meant it would be faster to clear if experienced players poured in in search of reward, than to relying solely on the tamed Mobs to do the clearing. Other restrictions like 'only one Evil God-class Mob could be tamed per guild' were set up to help enforce that balance, too.

"How does it take for 'Tonkii' to arrive, anyway?" Morgiana queried after nearly a minute had gone by.

"Give it some time," Kirito replied. "We don't know if Tonkii will come to us if we're not over at the central entrance, but I don't think it's a good idea to risk being there without a fully equipped raid team due to how close that place is to Thrym's base. Besides, it'll probably take some time from wherever Tonkii is right now to be able to fly to us; it's a big place down here."

Seconds later, a Beast God with a head which looked like a six-eyed elephant floated into view. Its body was flat and appeared similar to that of a fish's, with thick fur all over that part of its body. Below it had countless tentacle-like vines, and to the sides it had eight wings which resembled fins.

"Tonkii!" Leafa exclaimed, happy that her friend responded to her call. From upon Kirito's head, Yui communicated telepathically with the Beast God, using her existing powers as part of the ALO system and boosted by whatever new powers the access card Kirito had within his armour granted. Kirito had confided in Leafa privately beforehand that the system console access card Asuna dropped down to him was embedded into his armour; beyond the system authority, in their 'Real Life' situation the console cards had additional abilities, though he hadn't mentioned what exactly those were to Leafa.

"Leafa-san," Yui called out. "Take out your Medallion, please; we have a way to register Beast Gods as being friendly to players now, even without the coloured cursors as an indication."

Leafa did so, and a green line of light shot towards Tonkii. The stylized icon of the World Tree appeared as a large pattern upon Tonkii's fur, and an emerald bracelet appeared upon one of the vines below.

"Anyone can check if Tonkii is a tamed Mob or not by pointing their Medallion at him," Yui said, as Tonkii levitated down next to them, his trunk extended into a makeshift stairs of sorts. "There's no distance requirement down here in Jotunheim, as long as you have line of sight. And we'd get data on anyone or anything that Tonkii tries to fight, too."

"That's a relief," Kirito said with a smile. "Leafa, I'm going to have to ask you to take care of Tonkii for me, and to help out down here as my liaison for Jotunheim raid groups, if the Faction Leaders needs additional help down here. You'll probably be moving around down here as heavy artillery support to help people if it looks like they're going to be wiped out. There's no purpose having reward points if people get seriously hurt in trying to get them, after all. Try and get some level-grinding done in your own time as well, we're scheduled to retrieve Excalibur at the latest a month from now. I'd like you to be there to help out – if you want to, that is."

"Kirito…" Leafa said numbly. She had wanted to be needed by Kirito, and said as much the previous night. And in response Kirito did exactly that, relying on her for an important position. Judging from his tone of voice, Kirito meant it as a sign of trust as well, not as a way to keep her from meeting up with him. Besides, she could only spend so much time down in Jotunheim before the ambient magic started to affect her, so it wasn't like she couldn't help Kirito out in other places if he needed it.

"I'll be counting on you then, Leafa," Kirito said with a small, confident grin "C'mon, let's get going."

"Just checking, it's safe to start embarking on this guy right?" Morgiana asked, eyeing Tonkii carefully – it probably went against all her previous experiences to have a Beast God that close to her without any hostility from either side. "He doesn't attack others or anything?"

"It should be fine," Leafa replied. "As long as you don't hit him with anything, anyway. Though I'm not sure if there's anything else like affection scores or something I need to keep an eye on…"

The boarding onto Tonkii began, though not everyone could fit onto Tonkii's back. The weight capacity, now that it was no longer in-game, meant it was more flexible than a hard limit of seven players maximum. A few of the Black Hawks had to be nestled into the vines below in order to be carried by the large Beast God – an act that convinced Leafa of some Spriggan's reputation to be daredevils, as even if most of them had the treasure-hunter trick of being able to fly for a limited time underground without being an Imp player, a fall from high up could still kill them.

"Let's be off, then," Leafa said after she was sure nobody was in danger of falling off. "Tonkii, let's go!"

The Winged Beast God gave a cry in response, and began to levitate towards the South. Tonkii's speed was slower than usual, as even while the limit on player numbers was removed there was still only so much weight he could carry, especially with all the armour the players had on them. Even so, it was probably safer to have an escort with them as powerful as Tonkii, even if there was some trade-off in speed. Morgiana and Kirito were willing to get to their destination – one of the nearby fortress ruins – slower if it meant everyone could get there without having to spend some of their limited supplies before then. People didn't have access to inventories like in ALO anymore, so instead of dozens of potions of various kinds being taken with them on a trip there was a much limited stock for the various raid groups. It was partially why Morgiana had aimed for the fortress as their destination; take control of as many defensible positions in various parts of Jotunheim as possible, to set up supply caches so raid teams wouldn't be stuck below in that dungeon without enough resources to make it back to one of the main entrances.

"I could get used to this," Morgiana commented, taking in the view from their elevated vantage point. Large bonfires continued to burn below on the surface of Jotunheim at the location of each tribe of Evil God-class Mobs, and the huge glowing ice stalactites above looked closer than before. "Seeing the place from above, when normally most players wouldn't be able to fly down here."

"Titania is considering adjusting the wings so the players can fly down here," Kirito responded, as he also gazed out across Jotunheim. "There's probably enough ambient magic in the air here to fuel everyone's wings. The Jotunns are hard enough to fight as it is, too, and having the advantage of flight will probably make things easier for you people."

"That would certainly help," Morgiana chuckled, but then paused as something caught her eye.

"Hey, Hyuuga, Valoren…" Morgiana called out cautiously to her subordinates, and readied one hand for a spell. "Did Jotunns have white skin before?"

"Not that I know of…" Hyuuga answered, as he examined what made his guild leader so wary:

Below them, a Giant with pale skin instead of the usual grey lumbered across the terrain. It had two faces on each of its two heads, and there were occasional outgrowths of clear white crystals on its torso and four arms. Unlike the Jotunn Leafa and Kirito first saw however, only two of its hands held melee weapons of some kind, with its two other hands free for reasons unknown.

"So, it's one of the 'mutated' Jotunns Titania had mentioned?" Valoren, a Spriggan in slightly heavier armour than most of Morgiana's raid group had, commented. "Didn't think we'd see one this soon…"

"Is it just me, or is that Jotunn moving towards the eastern entrance?" Leafa hazarded nervously. "It doesn't look like it's just wandering aimlessly…"

"Either way, it's a Jotunn, which means it's on the list of 'exterminable Mobs'," Morgiana mused. "And taking down a mutated one will probably give us more reward points, too. Do you mind helping us out with this one, Leafa-chan? Softening it up first with Tonkii's attacks will make this a lot easier for us."

"Okay," Leafa agreed, even as the Black Hawks started buffing up with their enhancement spells. "But are you sure this is a good idea, Morgiana-san? Don't you normally need at least two dozen players to take down an Evil God-class Mob? We only have about half of the people needed…"

"The old strategy relied on having some players tanking damage, and that method got screwed over by the Transition," Morgiana grimaced, her grip tightened on her spear as she spoke. "We found that out the hard way yesterday, fighting the Jotunn Guard. I'll explain it to you guys later, but right now having Tonkii here with us as support makes this probably our best chance for fighting one of those and see what they can do. We'll do what we can, and if worse comes to worst we can still run back to the eastern exit."

"Alright then," Leafa said apprehensively. Patting the fur of their beast of burden, Leafa said: "Um, Tonkii, could you please shoot some thunderbolts at that Jotunn below? Not from the vines with anyone next to them, though."

With a rumble, Tonkii obliged. Sparks began to emit from the tip of some of its vines, and a dozen thunderbolts rained down upon the pale Jotunn. The booming sounds rang out across the underground, preventing the incantations for the Black Hawks' buff spells from reaching Leafa's ears.

"Direct hit!" One of the Spriggans nestled in Tonkii's vines below called out as the barrage ceased; dust clouds were swept up by the bolts slamming into the Giant. "Damn, each one of those shots must easily be at 800 Magic stat or higher!"

"Alright, Boys and Girls, prepare your attack spells-" Morgiana began to say when a roar from below cut her off.

The dust was blown away by a powerful Whirlwind Shield, showing the Jotunn taking only minor damage from the thunderbolts; less than a third of those had successfully landed upon the mutated Giant, and four sets of hate-filled eyes glared up at them.

"Tonkii!" Kirito shouted. "Use Dispel Fields, quick-!"

The Jotunn roared, and then leapt up at them. A tornado formed beneath its feet, and the Giant rode up on it with haste that belied its great size. Two large swords were swung at Tonkii like a falling avalanche, and due to the passengers upon the Winged Beast God evasion wasn't possible.

"_Oh Shi-!_" Morgiana exclaimed, knowing that they couldn't dodge in time. Many Spriggans had already came to the same conclusion, and had begun to activate their wings and moved to jump away in a desperate attempt to lessen the damage. The ones in the vines below had an easier time, all they had to do was let go and fall from their seats.

In contrast, Kirito rushed towards the oncoming blows, his face grimly determined.

"**Shield!**" Kirito screamed, a second before the swords reached him. The same defensive wall of force he demonstrated previously in front of the Faction Leaders appeared before him, and intercepted the Jotunn's melee attacks. As before, the trim upon his Chestplate glowed brightly once, and then faded.

"**Gravitas!**" Kirito then bellowed, stretching out his arms at the pale Giant. The Jotunn's chest was caved in by the powerful kinetic attack, and was flung back momentarily away from Tonkii. Judging from the subsequent snarls however, the Jotunn were not fatally wounded by the attack and it was merely further enraged by Kirito's actions. In its free hands lances of wind began to form on each palm, and it pointed those at Tonkii like they were the tips of magically charged staves.

"Hit it now, Tonkii!" The Black Swordsman cried out, as he crashed back onto the Beast God's back with a loud 'Clang'. The trim on the vambraces section of his armour flashed that time, upon that gravity attack's activation.

The Beast God glowed with white light and shot its Dispel Fields at the Jotunn, removing its tornado and its wind projectiles. With a cry of fury, the Jotunn crashed down back onto the surface of Jotunheim as it was no longer kept aloft by its magic.

"Get going, people!" Morgiana roared, changing directions and instead jumped towards the fallen Jotunn. "Take it down before it shrugs off the Dispel Field!"

With a shout, the rest of the Spriggans, sans Kirito, moved to support their Leader. Leafa rushed to Kirito's side, intensely worried about her brother's wellbeing.

"Kirito!" Leafa shouted. "Onii-chan! Are you alright Onii-chan?!"

"Ow…" Kirito winced as he tried to sit up. Below, sounds of fighting could be heard, as the Jotunn swung its blades around and spells were repeatedly blasted into its hide from all sides. "Can you give me some healing spells, Sugu? I think my entire back might be one large bruise…"

Leafa quickly did so, Words of Power surrounding the Sylph. Yui flitted about Kirito, anxious and checking him over to see if there was any further damage.

"Thanks for that," Kirito sighed in relief after the healing was complete, and looked down over at the fight between the other Spriggans and the Jotunn. Leafa did so as well, and what she saw stunned her speechless:

All twelve Spriggans darted around like shadows, dodging the Giant's weapons and spells. Near-misses grazed a few unfortunate players, the air pressure ripping their skin raw, though healing spells quickly fixed them up. The Jotunn's Breath attack blew at the players that weren't even a tenth of its height, leaving large gashes in the ground. Occasionally, it also howled in rage, devastating its surroundings with a summoned whirlwind. The Spriggans however had all picked up the minor tells from the Giant that forewarned its stronger attacks, and dodged accordingly.

"Amazing…" Leafa was stunned. While the Black Hawks couldn't do any lasting damage, the Jotunn wasn't able to land any killing blows either.

"We've almost drained it of all its MP!" Morgiana shouted, seeing the crystals on the Jotunns decrease with every magic-based attack the Jotunn used. "It won't have enough for its own shield soon! Hit it with everything we got after that!"

"We don't have the MP left for anything flashy ourselves!" Valoren shouted back. "We're using everything we have to keep up with its speed as it is! Nothing we have is doing any real damage!"

"Leafa, can you get Tonkii to fire some more thunderbolts at that Jotunn?" Kirito asked urgently. "I can PM Morgiana so her people can get away when the attack is ready."

"I'll try," Leafa replied, trying to coax more attacks out of their Winged Beast God. All twenty vines below began to sparkle brightly with electricity, and Kirito hastily messaged the Lady of Spriggans:

_[Incoming from above!]_

"Scatter!" Morgiana roared out, and then did as she said herself. Bolts of thunder once again descended upon the Jotunn, and in its bloodlust to try and swat the faeries it wasn't able to defend itself from those. Bright flashes blinded everyone, and the smell of ozone and cooked flesh pervaded the immediate area.

"Did we finish it off?" One of the Spriggans asked, his knees going weak from fear and the exertion to stay fighting at that level for an extended time. Combat when it was 'Real Life' was completely different to in-game, with the sights and sounds much more intense and terrifying. That feeling of adrenaline rushing through a physical body was also that much more powerful.

"You know whenever someone asks that, it obviously didn't die," Hyuuga scowled at the Spriggan jinxing their chances. Sure enough, the Jotunn rushed out of the dust cloud, its skin charred at multiple places and one of its head reduced to a bloody stump, but it was not yet out of the fight.

With a war-cry, blades were swung down and smaller gusts were directed at a trio of Spriggans. Two of them managed to flee to safety with their wings, firing small bursts of indoor flight, but the last of the three were unable to escape. Leafa couldn't tell if it was due to physical exhaustion or fear from facing a Mob that just refused to die, but the unfortunate player had slowed down and was caught by one of the Jotunn's humongous hands.

"Warren!" Morgiana, Hyuuga, and several other Spriggans below cried out in alarm and fear. Before they could do anything more than running several steps towards him however, the Giant's hand tightened, and blood spurted out from the gaps between the fingers.

"_You bastard!_" Morgiana howled, charging in to avenge her guild member. "Someone, revive Warren! I'll keep this fucker occupied!"

"You're insane, Morgiana!" Valoren shouted, gritting his teeth. "Argh, _damn it!_"

Valoren followed after his guild leader, Words of Power circling around both himself and Morgiana. Others began the incantation for Resurrection, or taking out a vial of World Tree Sap and waited for a chance to fly in and use it on the dark Remain Light of their fallen comrade.

Morgiana's challenging shout was responded in kind by the Jotunn, whose four arms were raised and ready to fight. The Spriggan Leader's charge came to a stop when a gigantic sword slammed down upon where she was, and dirt was sprayed up by the force of the blow.

"Morgiana-!" Kirito choked, unable to believe things could have ended with a suicidal attack like that.

Then, Morgiana faded into view ten metres away from where the blow struck, and ran up one of the Giant's arms. The Jotunn raised its arm back up, and tried to swipe Morgiana off of itself, but its arms couldn't reach the Spriggan Leader in time. Morgiana stabbed her spear with a two-handed strike that stabbed right into one of its eyes and pierced the brain.

The Giant howled in pain, bringing one hand up to try and swat her off. Morgiana jumped away, and the resulting attack only slammed the spear even deeper into its brain. In the time Morgiana soared and landed onto the ground like the namesake of her guild, Warren was successfully revived and dragged away to prevent a repeat of his earlier demise.

Thunder then struck again and again, until it seemed even the powerful Beast God was out of MP. The pale Jotunn was still alive even after taking that much damage however, having shielded its head with its arms that were charred black by the attacks. Roaring with hatred and pain, the Giant fled from its airborne nemesis. Spriggans below hastily escaped out of the Giant's way, lest they were trampled by the enormous feet.

"**Gravitas!**" Kirito shouted, attempting to bring down the Jotunn. His aim was off however, and instead of smashing its remaining head into pulp the attack only sheared off two arms on its left side. Given Kirito's inexperience with his new spells and with ALO magic in general, it was not unreasonable for him to have missed his mark.

Nonetheless, Kirito's attack succeeded in knocking the Jotunn off balance, and it fell to the ground head-first. Seizing that chance, Morgiana led the assault upon their downed foe, hounding it until its final head was severed from its main body. Just to be sure, the Black Hawks burned the decapitated head away and did the same to the remains of its other head.

-][-

Warren, a Spriggan teenager who couldn't have been much older than Leafa, hadn't stopped trembling since he was revived. He stayed seated Tonkii's back, hugging his arms around his bent knees. Kirito didn't know if just being brought back from Remain Light form was enough for brain damage to occur, but he wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

The Spriggan Leader had already retrieved her spear, though after the pale Jotunn's blow it needed a lot of work to bring it back to full capability. Morgiana had PMed one of the other clearing groups below to come and retrieve the remains of the Jotunn, for whatever reagents that could be gathered. As soon as they arrived, the Black Hawks boarded Tonkii and flew back to the eastern entrance; they had used up most of their supplies for the raid on the fortress, and after that gruelling battle they didn't have the strength to fight another one so soon.

"Will you be alright, Warren?" Kana asked anxiously, seated slightly away from the revived Spriggan.

"I-I'll manage," Warren said with a shudder. On their way back onto Tonkii he had unsteadily tried to get up, looking like he could collapse at any moment as he did so. As soon as he reached his full height, his knees gave out from under him and he sank back down with a 'thump'. In the end he had to be carried back onto the Winged Beast God.

"… I can still feel it, y'know?" Warren said shakily. "When that Jotunn crushed me. It still feels like my body will be popped like a water balloon at any time right now…"

Warren's words faltered, and he gasped like he wanted to retch at the reminder of his demise. Nothing came up from his stomach however, though his trembles redoubled.

"Take it easy, Warren," Morgiana told him with concern. "You don't have to go through any more fighting. Just focus on recovering, and we'll deal with clearing Jotunheim ourselves."

"Wha…?" Valoren said, stupefied. "We're still coming back down here? Even after what happened today? Morgiana, if this is about the Mob drops-"

"You should know me better than that, Val," Morgiana shot her second-in-command a withering look; gone was her normally casual way of speaking, too. "If you really think I'm someone that would place getting loot over the wellbeing of her guild members, we're going to have some words later."

"What is this about, then?" Valoren asked, his tightly clenched hands betraying his agitation. "Our reputation as a top-tier guild? A duty towards the rest of the ALO players to help out? You don't really care about those that much, Morgiana. Apart from loot, there's really nothing else I can think off that would make you want to return here. So why, Morgiana?"

"What do you think will happen if the Black Hawks completely pull out from Jotunheim?" Morgiana countered. "While I don't really give a damn about our reputation, others do actually pay attention to it. If even we had been scared away, with how well-known we are in ALO, only the most foolish and reckless players will voluntarily come down here in search for rewards with any sane player avoiding this place. We'll be effectively leaving this place to the official Faction-affiliated troops the Leaders push to take this job to deal with, and that's not going to be enough to keep this place under control. I'd prefer fighting these bastards in a ready-made killing field Titania is doing her best to set up for us to eliminate them with, instead of up on the surface when they break out; which _will_ happen if we only think about ourselves."

"…" Valoren went silent at Morgiana's words, as did the rest of the Black Hawks. Finally, Valoren sighed and said wryly: "I never thought I'd see the day _you_ of all people advocate for long-term planning and the good of everyone in general, Morgiana."

"Hey, I got elected Faction Leader more than just because none of the Spriggans wanted the job, y'know?" Morgiana remarked humourlessly, thought she had returned back to her normally casual way of speaking. "I'd need _some_ planning skill to not have had our collective asses kicked back when Mortimer's boys were on a warpath in ALO. It could have easily been us that Mortimer had chosen to hunt down instead of Alicia-chan and Sakuya-chan if we had been as careless, our reputations aside."

"I don't mind coming back down here," Warren said with a reddened face and quaking teeth, fighting off the terror he still felt from his death. "When I recover enough to not have panic-attacks at the mere thought of doing so, I'll be right with you."

"Take your time, Warren," Kana advised. "None of us will be happy if you come back when you're not ready, and somehow get killed again. It's not going to do anyone any good if you push yourself."

"That's true," Yui interrupted diffidently; the AI pixie didn't appear to want to intrude on what seemed like a private matter of the Black Hawks, but she felt she should say something when it happened in front of her. "You're exhibiting signs of shock, and possibly early symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – I do not recommend returning back to intense combat within the near future, from the standpoint of a 'Mental Health Counselling Program'."

"I'm not going to just leave the rest of them," Warren retorted stubbornly to Yui, before turning back to Morgiana. "We already had the majority of the Black Hawk's members leaving because they couldn't handle Boss-level combat in our current situation, and felt that they don't owe anything to the rest of us even after all we've been through together. A bit of pain, not even an actual death, and they started spouting how it was all only just a game, and how we shouldn't expect them to risk their lives for a bond that in the end is only _fake_."

Warren spat out that last word like a curse, anger overwhelming his fear for a moment.

"Well _fuck that_. You guys have been there for me when no-one else have – which was more than anyone 'real' has ever done for me. I'm not the kind of scumbag who would ignore that."

For a split second, Morgiana's eyes were filled with emotion at his words, before covering it up with confidence and her 'Big Sis' attitude. It had flashed by so quickly not even Kirito was sure he had seen Morgiana's front weaken.

"How about shifting over to the surface Mob-hunting duties instead, then?" Hyuuga suggested instead. "We still have enough members left in the Black Hawks doing that, instead of Jotunheim clearing. If you're really sure about continuing to fight, Warren, go do that for a few days and see if you can still do so. Normal Mobs should be easy enough for rehabilitation combat training to see if you've really lost your will, and if you're really alright it's a good way to keep up your skills."

"… Okay, I'll do that," Warren grudgingly agreed to the compromise. "Don't write me off yet though, I'm going to get better and get right back with you guys; just wait and see."

"I don't doubt it," Morgiana said with a small smile.

The rest of the trip went by in silence, broken only by the flapping of Tonkii's wings. Eventually, they returned to the eastern side, and disembarked without further complication. The other guilds at the established foothold looked towards them interestedly, both due to the Spriggans' reputation and how they got to see a 'tamed' Beast God first-hand. The general mood of the Black Hawks was apathetic at that point however, and they took no pleasure from the attention.

Before the Spriggan Leader went out of Kirito's sight, Kirito sent her a PM instead of verbalising his thoughts:

_[Morgiana-san,]_ the message began, _[It might be presumptuous of me, but if you ever need somebody to talk to about this I can get someone to meet up privately with you. Even if losing your teammates isn't permanent here, watching someone die like that instead of shattering into pixels can't be something that gets shrugged off easily. If you or anyone else in your guild need help later, it'll be there for you.]_

Morgiana paused in her steps slightly, opening up the message. With a quick glance back at Kirito, Morgiana composed her message and sent it back promptly.

_[If you meant having Yui-chan to help, then thanks, but no thanks. I'm not interested in seeing a shrink, even one as adorable as her. I'll pass on your offer if I think anyone in my guild needs it, but I think they'll probably say the same thing as me.]_

_[I actually meant some of the other Frontliners from SAO,]_ Kirito hastily typed. _[We've all had someone we have gotten to know die; we're not going to patronize you, at least not on purpose and not with something this serious. We know how bad things can be, and we don't want anyone else to go through what we did if we can help it.]_

Morgiana had almost walked out of sight by that point; she was answering another PM when Kirito's reached her, and she had a grimace on her face before she disappeared from Kirito's view. That hadn't stopped her reply from coming a minute later however:

_[Set up a time tonight. Get Klein to be there too, I want to ask him something myself. Though if you can't guarantee our meeting to be 100% sure that none of the ALO players will find out about this from your end, consider this get-together cancelled.]_

_[I'll get right on it, then,]_ Kirito replied, and sighed. He hadn't expected the efforts to make the players safe to be easy, but neither had he seriously thought he would have to experience what they did back in Aincrad again either. Even if the 'deaths' had different impacts, it didn't change how it affected guilds and players similarly, leading to stress upon bonds between the players' relations. Dying and still remembering the painful experience after the fact might not be that far off from dying with the senses of pain dulled like in SAO.

Kirito closed the screens surrounding him with his Medallion, and went back to Leafa's side. Tonkii had been released to go floating off doing whatever Beast Gods normally did, until the next time they needed his aid. The Black Swordsman was worried about what seeing the bloody scene of a player dying could have done to Leafa, and decided to take some time to chat with her as well before heading off to complete another one of Titania's tasks.

He had neglected his sister for far too long by that point, and he wished to rectify that if he could.


	17. Chapter 17

AN: Thanks to LordsFire for beta-ing, again.

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen**

-][-

"A shame Agil hasn't got his café up and running yet," Dale, a Gnome player in Furinkazan said. "I wouldn't mind having a drink to end the day, without having to hop all the way across town to find a suitable spot."

After a day's worth of flying out and clearing the Mobs around Arrun, Klein and his guild had returned to the neutral capital for some much needed rest. They went mostly as support for guilds that had a better understanding of ALO's aggressive flora and fauna, and didn't have to fight in the thickest of the battles. Furinkazan stayed mostly around Arrun in case Kirito needed their help, but without that request for assistance Klein's guild did what they could to help out while making sure they were close enough to go to Kirito if necessary.

"You'd think with everyone that's here in Arrun there'd be more entrepreneurial players around with a high Cooking skill out to make some money," Dynamm, a Sylph, scowled as they walked. "It's not like there's not enough food anymore or anything. Hell, I'd settle for a rough barbecue grill stand or something."

"Eh, be fair," Issin, the Cait Sith among them, shrugged. "The main stuff like flour might be able to be bought from the locals, but things like spices are too rare or expensive for them to be able to be bought in bulk. The herbs from ALO, even with all the high Farming skill players around, can only grow so fast outside game-conditions, and they just can't keep up with the thousands of players that wants three square meals a day. You can't really make a good meal without seasoning, right?"

"Titania's not putting this as an urgent matter to deal with, though," Klein spoke up. "The players aren't starving right now, so she's not exactly enthusiastic about making those changes. Even if new Farming updates come out it's probably not going to be aiming towards seasoning production."

Ironically, the AI wearing Asuna's face didn't care that much about Cooking or the taste of food, only if it would meet the basic needs of keeping the players alive. While pragmatic, it didn't raise the morale of the ALO players, especially during meal-times.

"Can't anything be done, even with those new magically charged fertilizer?" Kunimittz, Furinkazan's Imp member, asked. "I mean, what else are we going to use those for? Process them further to make explosives?"

"What, and make the phrase 'blowing shit up' literal?" Dynamm asked, and in response groans popped up from the group in general.

"Look man, I know as gamers we all love a good explosion or three," Dale complained. "But do you have to talk about that before we eat?"

"And that joke was _bad_," Kunimittz cringed.

"Hey, _you're_ the one that brought fertilizer into this conversation to begin with," Dynamm retorted.

"Alright, enough of that guys," Klein stepped in, playing peacemaker. "Now, I've heard over at the Undine part of town there's a sushi bar being opened, so why don't we head over there for tonight?"

"Sushi?" Issin said incredulously, his cat ears twitching. "What, there's actually _rice_ in ALO? Why didn't you tell us this before?"

Judging from everyone's expressions, they were all tired of the European-centric food of ALO where it was predominantly bread and flour-based food. Which when considering ALO's game to be generally set in Norse mythology roots loosely, being different to the food available to the Japanese norm and for immersion's sake the food selection in ALO was understandable. Even without homesickness as a factor however, they would all like something different after days of the same kind of things.

"Well, alright, maybe 'sashimi bar' might be more a more accurate way to describe the place," Klein amended, to more groans from his guild. "Hey, come on! These guys catch their ingredients fresh, and the lack of seasoning doesn't hurt the taste too badly…"

"You shouldn't have phrased it in such a way to raise our hopes, Klein," Dale grunted. "Well, fine; you're paying for the meal in return, however."

"Hear, hear," the guild chorused as a whole in agreement.

"What?" Klein exclaimed. "C'mon guys, isn't that a bit too harsh…?"

None of them were serious about their claims, and Furinkazan bantered between themselves as they made their way through the Undines' area. In actuality Arrun didn't really split its areas by race, it was merely where the convoys from the Faction Capitals chose to rest in for the time being. With the racial distribution of the city being roughly even in all parts of the city prior to the Transition, and how the housing distributions were still subject to final confirmation or trade between players, it was likely the separation for each of the 'Faction districts' would crumble in the weeks to come as players moved in and out of places. Assuming the players weren't returned to Earth by that time, anyway.

Klein received a PM half way down the street where the sashimi bar was, with the sender labelled 'Kirito'. Opening it up, Klein sighed at the end of reading the message through.

"Sorry guys, I'm going to have to bail out on this one. Something came up."

"Something serious?" Dynamm asked, tensing up. "Do we need to come along?"

"Nah, it's alright; there's no fighting involved for this one," Klein assured his guild. "Kirito's calling me up for an urgent meeting of some kind, and I'll have to eat there as I don't have time for a meal first. You guys will have to eat without me."

"Tough luck man," Issin said sympathetically. "We'll go and enjoy ourselves, then."

"Easy for you to say, don't Cait Sith love the taste of fresh fish?" Dale lightly ribbed his friend. "If we end up getting Poisoned by the fish here, the Cure potions are coming out of Klein's account."

"Fine, fine," Klein waved the joke off. "The price of leadership, and whatnot. I'll see you guys later, then."

The Salamander player then took off, following the directions Kirito sent him. With the ability of unlimited flight available to players, just as many players walked around Arrun as they flew. Things had gotten to the point where there were talks of imposing a flight speed limit to prevent accidents up in the air, not to mention additional 'road rules' when it came to flight within city boundaries. Seeing as Earth didn't have pre-established rules about flying cars or similar vehicles however, trying to create such rules had been slow going by the collective Factions Leadership.

"Let's see, the place should be somewhere around here…" Klein muttered, and then landed in front of a small building. Looking around, Klein noticed something: "Hey, wait a minute…"

"Glad you could make it, Klein," Kirito opened the door, and gestured for him to come in. "We've been waiting for you."

"Isn't this place where Agil is setting up his new café?" Klein asked, walking towards his Spriggan friend. "It's not really suited as a place for an important meeting, is it?"

"You'd be surprised what kind of measures have been put in place for privacy here," Kirito said offhandedly. "By the way, thanks for coming over after a long day of clearing."

"Well, you said this was important," Klein shrugged as he walked into the shop, and Kirito made way for him to do so. The interior of the building was that of an average-tier inn, with wooden seats and tables, though it was better than many others of the same level due to the view from the large windows on one side of the dining area. "And I figured you're not going to drag me away from my rest time without good reason. I hope you've got food though, your message got me before I could order anything."

"I'm sure Agil can manage something," Kirito said, glancing over to the bulky Gnome. "Isn't that right, Agil?"

"We need a guinea pig for testing out our new menu anyway," Agil chuckled, from over where he stood at the counter as a bartender. "Unfortunately, it's not like the ingredients between Earth and ALO are the same, so a lot of things are going to be hit and miss for the time being. Someone managed to publish the wiki-list of combination ingredients for the more popular ALO foods on the public message boards, but we're still mostly on our own for recipes."

"Can't be worse than the stuff we had to live off of back in that first month in Aincrad," Klein responded similarly, smiling in reminiscence. "First Floor stuff didn't really have much flavour, did it?"

"Eh, the butter back there wasn't too bad," Kirito gave a small laugh. "Made the cheap dark bread back then more than just 'adequate'. It's all about where to look for the good things."

"I hate to interrupt," a light female voice spoke up, "But all this talk about food is making me hungry. Is the food ready, Agil-san? I had skipped out on having dinner together with the rest of my guys, saying I had work I needed to do back at the World Tree."

Morgiana came out from one of the private booths at the one end of the room, lounging casually with her back against one wall. She wore the same ensemble as she usually did, black pants and a vest, though her usual spear had been replaced with a weaker version for the time being.

"Almost done," Agil called out. "You two get seated, we'll bring it in after that."

"'You two'?" Klein queried. "Isn't Kirito or others going to join us?"

"I'm meeting with Leafa after this, to talk over some things that happened earlier today," Kirito replied. "Morgiana want to keep her talk private as well, so there won't be anyone else that's joining you."

"So… Kirito, you've set me up for a _date_?" Klein asked disbelievingly. "Look, man, I appreciate the thought and all… but do you really have the time and effort to be worrying about things like this?"

"Kiri-chan didn't tell you?" Morgiana said, amused. "You're not here to serenade me with your passion, Klein-kun; I'm only here for some advice as a fellow guild leader. The food is just an extra bonus."

"Go figure," Klein said with a fake scowl. "No way would I be having dinner with a stunning beauty unless there's a catch. So what's this about?"

"Not here," Morgiana shook her head. "I'll tell you after we get inside the private booth. Come on."

Morgiana turned and went back through the door she came out of, and Klein moved to follow. Trading a glance and a nod with Kirito, the guild leader of Furinkazan went inside the booth. It was a small room, but not to the point of being cramped. The furniture there, a table with two chairs, wasn't much different compared to the ones outside, either.

"So why couldn't we have talked out there?" Klein asked curiously as they both took a seat. "We have the place to ourselves anyway, right?"

"The privacy wards were only set up around these booths," Morgiana replied. "Thanks to Kiri-chan's limited GM authority, no magic can be used to eavesdrop on us, and all recording equipment is disabled in here. I don't want anything of this meeting to get out, and even if we held this meeting up at the World Tree others like Mortimer or Sakuya-chan might overhear us. Kiri-chan thought having a place where not even other Faction Leaders can overhear you is a good idea, and made the preparations here."

"That's doesn't exclude Titania from knowing about this though, right?" Klein said thoughtfully. "I mean, it's unlikely that she can't bypass whatever Kirito is doing with her own authority."

"If she cared enough, maybe," Morgiana shrugged. "I'm getting the feeling though as long as we do a good job, Titania's gonna leave us alone. She's not interested in individuals, as far as I know."

"Mm-hmm," Klein made a sound of half-committal, as Agil came in with a tray full of food. After a few more trips the table was laden with a selection of consumables, in addition to a few bottles of alcohol.

"Enjoy your meal," Agil said, as he left for the last time and closed the door behind him. After a quick thanks for the food, the two guild leaders dug into their dinner with gusto. Both of them had a tiring day, and their unspoken agreement was to at least get some food into their belly before they get down to business.

"This stuff isn't bad," Morgiana commented in between supping at her bowl of stew. "Not top-level material, sure, but it's certainly enough to get a decent following. Better than the standard stuff Titania is offering, anyway."

Klein nodded in agreement, his mouth full at the time. To alleviate the pressure on existing food stocks in players' inventory, Titania had released free food and water for everyone, no matter if they were Mob-clearers or evacuees from other Capitals that only sat tight in Arrun. The food was some kind of synthetic plant-based jelly-like substance, while the water was filtered from the moisture and clouds high above. The water was pure and of a high quality, though the same couldn't be said for the 'food'. Given more effort Titania could easily have made it more appealing, but she had only salted it slightly to make it not tasteless before giving it out. Furthermore, while the glop was nutritious, it didn't make the person eating it _feel_ full. If people wanted better things to eat, they would have to work for income one way or another and purchase those from other players. Even food purchased from Tristainian merchants could only go so far.

Morgiana stopped for a moment and reached out to open a bottle of some kind of wine. Pouring both herself and Klein a glass, the Spriggan Leader sipped at the beverage and found it to her taste.

"You sure it's a good idea to start drinking before we talk?" Klein asked with a raised eyebrow. "What if you get too drunk?"

"You can't get drunk in ALO, and that feature got carried over here from what I've heard," Morgiana said with a shrug. "At most you only get slightly tipsy these days, and if you drink too much you go straight to being Poisoned. Though I haven't had a chance to test this myself before today…"

To emphasize her words, Morgiana downed the rest of her glass of alcohol in one go.

"Besides, I'm not sure I want to talk about this while completely sober," Morgiana commented, an undercurrent of seriousness showing underneath her casual manner. Pouring herself another glass, Morgiana continued: "Oh, and do I need to lay out clearly what's the appropriate manner for drinking with a girl?"

"Your slight on my good name aside, you can be sure that I'm not going to do anything to you at all," Klein said wryly. "Even without being a decent guy, you'd make me – or just about anyone, really – regret it if I _do_ try something, assuming the anti-harassment code doesn't turn me into a stain on the wall first. Kirito and Agil wouldn't like it if I pulled that crap, either, and pissing those two off isn't exactly a good idea."

"Better to be safe than sorry, right?" Morgiana shrugged. "Some idiots out there don't understand it unless it's spelled out clearly beforehand that no, I'm not interested in going further than talking just because I'm a woman drinking alcohol. It's one reason why I spend my nights hunting in ALO with the Black Hawks rather than '_socializing_' with other people."

That last sentence was said contemptuously by the Lady of the Spriggans. While looks could be deceiving, for example Kirito's younger sister looking a few years older than she really was with her ALO avatar, Klein was inclined to believe Morgiana was at least in her early twenties as reflected by her appearance. Old enough to have a drink with, without it weighing heavily on his conscience.

"Well, what did you want to talk to me about?" Klein asked, taking a sip from his glass. _Hey, this stuff is actually pretty good…_

"I want some advice, from one guild leader to another," Morgiana said, interrupting Klein's internal musings. "Kiri-chan offered some help from the rest of you SAO Survivors after some… recent events happened to us, and from what I've heard from Argo-chan back before all this stuff happened about the Transition you were the guy I wanted to talk over this issue with."

"I'm flattered that you think I can help, but… why me?" Klein responded. As far as he knew, he hadn't done anything really impressive back in Aincrad, not like Kirito or Asuna. If it weren't for how serious Morgiana was taking the meeting, Klein would have considered he was being trolled by Argo and Kirito indirectly.

"You managed to keep your guild in one piece throughout SAO; never mind the 'no casualties' achievement even though your guild was on the 'Frontlines' for most of the Floors, but also that none of your guys had quit your guild. That couldn't have happened if you didn't have the trust and support of the rest of your guild."

Morgiana looked Klein in the eyes attentively. The Salamander player with her there saw intense curiosity, along with a faint hint of desperation, from Morgiana's gaze.

"How did you manage that, Klein? How were your guys so loyal, to the point they were willing to follow you into another VR game even after SAO was cleared? Considering how even asking if someone was a SAO Survivor was an unspoken taboo on the net, it's not like you guys came out of that death game without problems. More than the physiotherapy stuff said on the news and such, it can't have been mentally easy for them to go back into VR once more. Still, your guys followed you into ALO…"

"…" Klein paused, putting down the fork he had in one hand as he considered what to say in response. With the matter at hand, he understood why Morgiana might want to at least be somewhat inebriated before they started. The topic in question wasn't something he was really comfortable talking about, either.

"I'm guessing by how you're bringing up this topic, something serious happened to the Black Hawks?" Klein asked. Morgiana nodded, and Klein inquired further: "May I ask what?"

"… Sure, you probably need context for what I'm asking about," Morgiana said pensively. "A lot of my guild members have left, after experiencing combat in 'Real Life'. I'm left with maybe a quarter of what I used to have in my guild, along with my 'inner circle' of elite players. Though even if they might not be leaving the same way as the others are, they're pushed to the limit."

Morgiana swirled the drink in her glass idly a few times, staring into the contents of her cup.

"Looking back… that might have been what led to Warren's death down at Jotunheim today. No, he's fine, we revived him before his Remain Light disappeared," the Spriggan Leader quickly assured Klein, seeing the Salamander's horrified expression. "He got 'killed' while we fought a mutated Jotunn. Whether that happened because he froze up in fear, the exhaustion from fighting not completely out of him after the battles from the day before, or the pain from things being as they are now, I don't know. Whatever the reason, he suffered a painful end, with the only silver lining was it was a quick death. Even after the revival though, the experience of death still stayed with him."

Klein shuddered involuntarily; in that sense, what was happening to everyone was even worse than in Aincrad. At least back then the Pain Absorb function was active, and players who died only had to go through that once, before falling into oblivion. Given the current revival system however, while someone wouldn't be gone forever after one mistake they could accumulate one death after another. Saying it would be 'unpleasant' would be an understatement.

"That feeling of pain was probably what screwed everyone over after the Transition," Morgiana went on with a contorted face, remembering what had happened before. "Along with the lack of HP bars. The 'Tankers' we had down at the eastern entrance yesterday got hurt when they tried to block the Jotunn Guard's attack, which showed any strategy that relied on tanking was effectively neutralized in our current situation. The 'physics engine' of the game changed too, where after you block a Jotunn's attack in 'Real Life' you have a high chance of getting knocked back instead of only having gashes cut into your virtual avatar. Being blasted backwards and onto the ground with heavy armour can break someone's neck easily; and without the 'HP bar' function back in ALO, it meant anyone can be reduced to a Remain Light with just one hit. Due to that, we had double the estimated worse-case scenario casualties as the majority of one of the other guilds got wiped out along with most of the Tankers. The pain and ease of death played a large part in people's decision to leave, I think.

"After today, a few guys of my 'inner circle' had PMed me asking to be transferred over to regular Mob hunting along with Warren. One of them is genuinely worried about Warren, but the other two… they don't want to stop being one of the Black Hawks' elites or abandon the rest of us, but they don't feel they can handle high-tier combat anymore either. Not even the people closest to me are exempt from thoughts of leaving me.

"So that's the situation. I don't know what's worse, being abandoned by my guild or watching the guys still loyal to me fall apart in front of me… Surely someone with a track record like yours has a way to resolve this issue?"

Morgiana's voice lost all playfulness at the end, becoming a veiled plea for help. It was understandable to Klein why she had approached him by that point; Klein managed to keep his people together through one death-game, so certainly he should have some advice to be able to help Morgiana's conundrum.

Klein sighed. The reality of things was different to whatever Morgiana might have heard from Argo or others, and he _really_ didn't want to disillusion the Spriggan Faction's Leader.

"Unfortunately, Morgiana-san, you didn't get the full picture from whatever you have heard."

The katana-wielder opened up his options menu, and called out a photograph to show the Lady of Spriggans. On it were a dozen men in their twenties, with Klein and his iconic red headscarf positioned on the front row. All of them each held a physical copy of the 'Sword Art Online' game up high, and they smiled for the camera for that moment.

"Twelve of us went into Aincrad… and only ten of us did the same coming into Alfheim," Klein said melancholically, allowing the image to bring up past events to his mind. "It's not like they died in SAO or anything like that; but our friendship was strained enough that the two of them didn't want to go back into VR or fight any more. Even back in Aincrad they focused more on information gathering and item support more than fighting on the frontlines. While functionally speaking Argo and Agil more than filled that role in our preparation to climb the World Tree, and the main fighters of Furinkazan had come into ALO with me… it didn't change how the departure of our old comrades had hit hard for some of us. Like with your 'inner circle' guys, they're not going to cut and run on me but neither are all of them 100% on-board with Argo's plans.

"Back in Aincrad, around the second Christmas we spent in SAO, things were different. All nine of them would have had no problem standing beside me to fight a special Flag-Mob Boss or even support my disagreement against a stronger Frontline guild, but by Floor 74 that number was down a few people. They had enough of risking their lives on the edge of the unknown, where new Mobs with new attack patterns or never-seen-before traps might gank us; those guys went into farming for the materials for upgrading our gear, or doing other things that's not quite as dangerous. Guess they just had enough of the dangers after a certain point, and I don't really blame them for feeling that way. Nobody sane would want to die, after all. It was kinda a push already with those guys following me in into this mess."

"So even with you guys knowing each other outside VRMMOs, your guild was – _is_ – starting to fall apart as well?" Morgiana said, her mouth twisted by her mood.

"Yeah," Klein nodded sombrely. "After everything we went through together, it was probably more surprising that this many of my guys signed up for this when Argo contacted me about Asuna-san. I'm not complaining that I've got the best possible outcome as I can get for my guild's participation, but I honestly didn't think this was a likely outcome."

"And this is with your guys all knew each other in real life, too," Morgiana pointed at Klein's photo. "My guys aren't nearly as close, with most of us only knowing each other on ALO. Small surprise, then, that problems with cohesion comes up with the Black Hawks."

"Just because we know who each other are outside gaming situations doesn't mean we don't have disagreements," Klein disputed slightly. "That's just how interaction between people are, it's not like we can ever completely remove conflict with one another. Even before SAO I've had arguments with some of my friends, but we all got over that eventually."

"'Friends', huh," Morgiana said somewhat broodingly; the alcohol might be getting to her after all, despite her earlier claims on the unlikelihood of drunkenness. "It must be nice, being in a guild like yours."

"Um, doesn't the Black Hawks guild members normally get along with each other?" Klein hazarded. "Your guys seem to be doing fine whenever I see them interacting with each other…"

"How much of that was roleplaying, and how much of it was genuine friendship?" Morgiana asked, half towards Klein and half to herself. Taking a sip from her glass, Morgiana chuckled darkly and her eyes took on a tinge of bitterness.

"Really… I'm a fool for trying to find recognition and a sense of belonging in VRMMOs," Morgiana laughed derisively at herself. "It worked, for a while at least… I had a guild of followers, and my 'inner circle' guys are as close as they can get to being close friends in a purely online interaction. My boys and girls looked up to me as their 'Big Sis', someone more than just a guild leader or the Faction Leader.

"The Transition showed me just how fake all the things I have built up in ALO really are, however… not even my closest guildmates, my _'friends'_, are immune to thoughts that the things we've done together don't really mean anything. I was even foolish enough to believe in miracles, that a way to have your people band together like comrade in arms – like a real _family_ – could exist. If someone had managed to do it before, it can be done again… but I should have known happy ends only happen in stories."

"Hey now," Klein started hotly, but paused. What was he angry about, exactly? That Morgiana had dismissed SAO being cleared as a 'happy end', even taking into the player losses into account? That getting his friends out of Aincrad was of no importance, no matter what happened to them afterwards? Or because Morgiana dismissed the bonds she had with her own guild?

"Rather than thinking about what you have lost," Klein said instead, his gaze moving back to the photo he called up. "Have you ever thought about what you still have?"

"… What?" Morgiana asked, taken aback.

"I don't only keep this picture to remind myself of what I used to have, Morgiana-san," Klein replied. "It's to remind me that I still have the majority of my friends and allies with me – and by looking at this instead, I won't be mistaken that I'm staring at them emotionally because I've become desperate due to my complete lack of luck with the opposite sex."

Klein smiled faintly at his weak attempt to lighten the mood, before continuing:

"Even after everything, you still have most of your 'inner circle' right? A few friends that won't abandon you, no matter what? The rest of your guild that hadn't left your guild, as well? Don't get too down just because some people have left."

"That's…" Morgiana said hesitatingly, before sighing.

"You have a point, I guess. It's just that, well… in hindsight, I have an idealized view of what 'real' friendship was. That I expected through thick and thin, all my guys would be there for me… which was _really_ unrealistic, considering what drove me to establishing the Black Hawks to begin with."

Klein kept silent as Morgiana talked. It wasn't unheard of that people sought solace in virtual reality – or before technology developed to that stage, the internet in general – when they were dissatisfied with their Real Life. He didn't know Morgiana's Real Life background, and Klein knew better than to pry. He was just a guy chatting to her over a meal, not her counsellor or anything.

"… How attached are your guys to being Spriggans?" Klein finally asked. "I don't really have any ideas in how to help you hold the Black Hawks together, but I think I have a way to increase their chances of survival. That's about all I can do for you, though."

"Hm…" Morgiana hummed, thinking over Klein's words. "Lemme guess, changing their race through the 'Chalice of Rebirth'? Play to the strength of the various faerie types, for example have all the dedicated Tanks shift to being Gnomes, things like that?"

Klein nodded. It didn't surprise him that Morgiana caught on to his ideas that quickly, seeing as she knew the ALO game mechanics better than he did.

"It might work," Morgiana admitted. "It doesn't guarantee anything, but it's probably better than trying to rush through everything as we are now. I'd probably have to give up my seat as Faction Leader however, right now every vote counts in my Faction and non-Spriggans doesn't get to vote for the 'Lord of Penwether'. Like how Eugene's pet Puca battlemage might have given the Salamanders multiple decisive victories back in ALO, he still doesn't get a say in who gets to be the Salamander's leader. If I get my guys to shift races, I'll probably have to give up on my earlier support for Kiri-chan's goal in getting Asuna back. I don't like having to choose between my guys and you people's wellbeing."

"Not necessarily," Klein remarked. "Things doesn't have to be choosing between your obligations. We can talk with Titania, after all, and she can probably make it so that mercenaries supporting a Faction Leader's core troops are allowed to vote, even if they're not racially speaking a member for that Faction."

"That brings in issues such as vote manipulation," Morgiana pointed out. "What's to stop Mortimer, or another Leader on the verge of being ousted for example, buying votes from other Factions then? Just induct them into his personal troops then bam, guaranteed succession for another term as Faction Leader. In fairness, this wouldn't be able to work."

"But your guys would be ex-Spriggans," Klein contended. "There'll probably be a ton of restrictions involved, such as before voting spending a long time being as a part of a Faction-affiliated fighters, or a cap on the number of non-Faction-race votes, but I think this might work.

"What makes a Spriggan a Spriggan, anyway? The physical appearances and stats? Their play style? Or just affiliation with a certain leader or group? The goal of ALO, reaching the top of the World Tree and unlimited flight, has already been achieved, right? I probably don't get it, seeing as I haven't been in ALO that long, but is there any point in having division based on race anymore? Without going into all that other political stuff of how ALO players need to band together for our protection against the locals, or whatever stuff some people like Rufus have been saying."

"…" Morgiana thought about Klein's points, chewing and swallowing a few more mouthfuls of food as she did so. Reaching a decision, Morgiana asked: "If I bring a proposal to Titania about changes on the affiliation structure, will you and Kirito be able to help me convince her? I've got some vague ideas thought up offhand already, for example a number of contributions to the Faction and needing a high proficiency in the Faction-aligned Magic Skill to be able to participate as a member of the Faction in just about every meaningful way."

"Yeah," Klein replied. "If it'll help Kirito get Asuna back, you bet he'd be supporting this. I would too, considering if this way we clear out Mobs in a safer and faster way."

"Rufus is gonna be pissed, that I'm bypassing the 'Council of Faerie Lords' discussions and going straight to the GM for the changes I want," Morgiana chuckled wryly. "Doubly so because I'd get them, too, if I rely on you guys' connections. I can't say Sasaki and the others will like having Titania intervening on the Faction Structure as well, considering how Titania had said us Faction Leaders have pretty much full authority on this part. Add to the misgivings we have on the current spread of authority, this won't be a good political decision."

Klein winced. "This will come back and bite us in the backside if it ever comes down to a unanimous vote to retire Titania as GM, won't it?"

"Eh, it's Rufus," Morgiana shrugged. "Give him a good enough bribe, and he'll probably come around to our way of thinking. It's not quite true to stereotype all Leprechauns as a materialistic hoarder, but Rufus fits that description to a 'T'. As for others… well, we better hope Kiri-chan finds a way that doesn't rely on a unanimous vote…"

"Why don't you give me the proposal, and I'll take it up with Titania?" Klein offered. "This way you won't lose any credibility with the other Faction Leaders, and after a few more Encounters down in Jotunheim others might come around to this way of thinking, too. Factions over-specializing by racial traits might not be enough for the Endgame tier stuff down there, from what I've heard here and there."

"That'll only direct the ire towards your guys, though," Morgiana frowned. "I'm all for giving you the plans, it's not like I'm doing this for the recognition… But if people take the time to think about it, Kiri-chan is practically the Leader of a tenth Faction, and has more say in how the changes could be done than any of the Faction Leaders. Your guys will be taking all the heat if this gets done more than a few times."

"Kirito will probably say this was nothing compared to what he had to go through as a 'Beater' back in Aincrad," Klein grimaced; he had heard about what Kirito had to go through in the early days of SAO, and he wasn't happy Kirito had to play the bad guy. "He'd take on that burden if it means getting Asuna back, I don't doubt that. Though this time he won't have to shoulder everything by himself as a Solo Player for months on end; he's stuck with us, whether he likes it or not."

"Alright then," Morgiana said with a small smile. "We have a plan, at least. Now let's finish this meal, it'd be a shame to just leave it like this. I don't suppose you know a spell that reheats the food? Does Fire Magic have anything like that?"

"If there is one, I haven't heard of it, let alone learned it," Klein grunted. "Sounds useful, though. One more thing to get Titania to try and create, maybe?"

"Doesn't seem like it'll be a top priority concern for her, though…"

The chatter left the serious side of things for a time after that, as both guild leaders resumed their meals in earnest. As the food depleted, Klein thought that overall the 'meeting' turned out alright.

"Um, hey, before you go…" Klein began to say, as the meal came to a close and Morgiana was on the verge of walking past him to tell Agil that they were done. "If somehow things do end up going completely into a mess with the Black Hawks… are you going to go off as a Solo Player after that?"

"If I lose everything?" Morgiana asked, and thought for a moment. "Well, I'm not ruling that out; dunno what I can actually do by myself as things are though, it's not like I can take on an entire pack of Mobs singlehandedly like back in ALO. Now all it takes to kill anything is one good hit at a critical point, and I'm not proud enough to say that'll never happen to me."

"I'm hoping just as much as you are that your guys will end up supporting you," Klein said. "But if the worst case scenario happens… please, just don't go Solo. Join up with the Yggdrasil Knights or even with my guys if you want, but please don't give up on the idea of having someone trustworthy to watch your back."

"Hmmmm?" Morgiana said, raising one eyebrow. "What, are you trying to hit on me now or something? Going by your tone it seems like you'd be watching more than just my back."

"You know as well as I do that's not the main point," Klein glowered. He didn't deny Morgiana was quite stunning to behold, and as crude as it was Klein could admit he appreciated her looks and wouldn't mind having her as part of Furinkazan. Blame the biological imperative or something, but even with the serious topic earlier that evening he had involuntarily – or so he would like to think – snuck glances at places that weren't Morgiana's face. Going by how Morgiana acted, she was aware how most people regarded her ALO avatar's appearance, too. "This time I'm in a position to not be baggage to someone that might want to go Solo, and I want to make sure they know they're not alone and could depend on others. I can't force them to choose anything they don't want, but I'd encourage them to be supported by someone as strongly as I can."

"'Supported by someone', huh?" Morgiana said with amusement. "Y'know, it could just be me, but that phrase can be taken in so many ways in this situation."

"Cut me some slack, I'm trying my best to not make any of this sound like a sudden love-struck confession," Klein complained at Morgiana's teasing. He wasn't kidding earlier that he didn't have much contact with members of the opposite sex, at least not in anything even marginally close to a romantic event. "Fine, I'll try and shrink this into a shorter version: Wanna _just_ be friends? You help me, I'll help you, and if I try anything you don't like then feel free to kick my ass – assuming someone or something doesn't do that first, anyway."

"Sure, why not?" Morgiana shrugged. "Just don't expect me to be acting all buddy-like with you. You wouldn't be the first guy I've met that have ulterior motives beyond just trying to help."

"As long as you don't die where I might be able to prevent it, then I'm cool with that," Klein replied seriously. "I don't expect to be able to save everyone from dying, but as you know it sucks to have someone you know die. And, well, I don't want to have a repeat of what happened to Kirito. Even if he survived going Solo I couldn't say it was good for him to push people away like he did; and I don't want something like what happened to him to happen to someone else."

Morgiana shook her head. "Careful there, Romeo, keep saying cheesy stuff like that and I might stab you out of sheer irritation. Even if you mean well."

"Ah, whatever!" Klein said exasperatedly. He wasn't sure his face wasn't burning in embarrassment, considering Salamanders had a higher resistance to feeling heat. "Hopefully third time's the charm; Friends?"

Klein held out his right fist in front of him, waiting for Morgiana's answer.

"Friends," Morgiana replied, and bumped right fists casually.

It was probably just a misreading, but Klein thought Morgiana's smile as she answered was more genuine that the jovial 'Big Sis' persona she wore all the time; hopefully it was a sign of improvement in things to come.

* * *

AN: Klein's photo came from SAO anime episode 1, roughly 30 seconds in. I'm also using this to help explain why Klein's frontline fighters had 7 people on Floor 74's Frontlines while during 'Red Nosed Reindeer' he had 10 people in the LNs.


End file.
